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The JCAHO is working to develop best practices for smoking cessation

Patient Safety Monitor Alert, August 31, 2004

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In an effort to develop best practices and educational strategies, the JCAHO is researching ways to evaluate the smoking cessation counseling that hospitals provide to patients admitted with diagnoses of acute myocardial infarction, heart failure, and pneumonia.

The Illinois-based accreditor sent a survey to a random sample of 185 hospitals nationwide in August that asks institutional leaders to evaluate the effectiveness of each hospital's smoking cessation efforts.

The survey seeks information on the current types of smoking cessation counseling that the hospitals provide to inpatients diagnosed with acute myocardial infraction, heart failure, or community-acquired pneumonia, including whether counseling was given but not documented.

JCAHO standards already prohibit smoking at hospitals. In addition, the accreditor's core measure sets for acute myocardial infarction, heart failure, and pneumonia contain measures about whether organizations provide smoking cessation counseling to inpatients.

The JCAHO's new survey seeks to identify other distinguishing hospital characteristics that either contribute to or mitigate against appropriate compliance with the JCAHO's smoking cessation performance measure.

For more information, contact Karin Jay in the JCAHO's research division at 630/ 792-4940 or kjay@jcaho.org.

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