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Alert: Joint Commission releases 2009 National Patient Safety Goals

Hospitalist Leadership Connection, June 24, 2008

The Joint Commission (formerly JCAHO) announced its 2009 National Patient Safety Goals (NPSGs) last Tuesday. The biggest changes include new requirements to prevent patient infections associated with healthcare practices. The NPSGs feature an updated numbering system and language changes. This new method for numbering the NPSGs will sort the new electronic editions of the NPSG manuals, according to the Joint Commission. In addition, what were formerly referred to as implementation expectation (IEs) are now called elements of performance (EPs).

The Joint Commission list the following objectives as the 2009 Hospital and Critical Access Hospital National Patient Safety Goals:

• Improve accuracy of patient identification
• Improve the effectiveness of communication among caregivers
• Improve the safety of medication use
• Reduce the risk of healthcare-associated infections
• Accurately and completely reconcile medications across the continuum of care
• Reduce the risk of patient harm resulting from falls
• Encourage patients’ active involvement in their own care
• The organization identifies safety risks inherent in its patient population
• Improve recognition and response to changes in a patient’s condition

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