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JCAHO tweaks wrong-site surgery scoring
WHO encourages hospitals to screen for SARS
National quality forum releases safe practices list

Patient Safety Monitor Alert, May 20, 2003

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JCAHO TWEAKS WRONG-SITE SURGERY SCORING

Has your hospital had trouble complying with the Joint Commission on Accreditation of Healthcare Organizations' (JCAHO) National Patient Safety Goal recommendation that requires organizations to implement a surgical site-marking process that involves the patient?

Here's some welcome news: The JCAHO recently announced that it will no longer require site-marking for certain types of procedures, such as Cesarean sections and laparoscopies, according to a May 16 e-mail update from Joint Commission Resources, Inc. However, it will continue to require marking to distinguish left from right, fingers and toes, or levels—such as a location on the spine.

The JCAHO also announced revisions to the scoring on other tricky site-marking issues, such as teeth and cardiac catheterization procedures. Look in an upcoming issues of Briefings on Patient Safety for more information on the changes and for tips on how to comply.

WHO ENCOURAGES HOSPITALS TO SCREEN FOR SARS

The World Health Organization (WHO) last week urged health care facilities around the world to screen all patients with a fever and respiratory symptoms for sudden acute respiratory syndrome (SARS), according to USA Today.

New guidelines on the WHO's Web site recommend that emergency doctors and nurses regard patients with these symptoms as "alert cases," and examine them, question them about possible SARS exposure, and isolate them if necessary.

The WHO's latest tally of SARS is 7,548 cases and 573 deaths since the flu-like illness emerged in China in November 2002. The United States has had 64 probable cases and no deaths.

NATIONAL QUALITY FORUM RELEASES SAFE PRACTICES LIST

Want to devote your resources to issues that all the "heavy hitters" agree on? Check out "Safe Practices for Better Healthcare," a new report from the National Quality Forum (NQF). The report lists 30 practices that NQF's 173 members, which include organizations such as the AARP, the American Hospital Association, and the Ford Motor Company, have agreed will improve patient safety.

Some of the practices include
- hiring critical care specialists to manage intensive care patients
- actively involving pharmacists in the medication use process
- establishing specific protocols to ensure adequate nurse staffing

Go to http://www.qualityforum.org/txconsensusv1.5.pdf to view a copy of the report or check an upcoming issue of Briefings on Patient Safety to find out more about how regulatory and accreditation agencies may enforce the practices.

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