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Learn how to recruit, train, and ultimately share the duty

Briefings on The Joint Commission, June 1, 2006

This is an excerpt from a member only article. To read the article in its entirety, please login or subscribe to Briefings on The Joint Commission.

After reading this article, you will be able to

1. -explain why sharing mock tracer responsibilities can be an effective educational tool for staff

2. -describe a process for doing mock tracers that can be replicated

3. -define how to scale the mock tracer process to any size facility

4. -determine how many mock tracers are manageable in a quarter

Conducting two mock tracers per month at more than two hours each for about two years was more than enough to motivate Deborah J. Thoman, MA, RHIA, CHP, to share responsibility for the survey-readiness practice.

Like her colleagues at other hospitals, Thoman, JCAHO coordinator at the 740-bed University of Iowa Hospitals and Clinics in Iowa City, began using tracers with the introduction of the new survey process in 2004. She started with a core group that covered all of the bases. It included herself, the associate director of nursing, a lead epidemiology nurse, the director of housekeeping, the facilities manager, and the associate director of pharmacy.

"After you've been doing it for two years, the units are used to being traced because everyone's been hit by you a couple times," Thoman says. "Everyone was getting comfortable. We were getting tired. We needed to expand our cadre."

Getting comfortable can be a good thing

Thoman says the core group grew comfortable with its role, and the units grew comfortable being traced by its members. This helped when it came time to recruit and delegate tracer duties.

This is an excerpt from a member only article. To read the article in its entirety, please login or subscribe to Briefings on The Joint Commission.

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