Safety

JCAHO proposes revisions to emergency management standard

Emergency Management Alert, May 17, 2005

The Joint Commission on Accreditation of Healthcare Organizations (JCAHO) is asking healthcare organizations for feedback to its proposed revisions to its emergency management planning standard.

The revisions would require organizations to undergo more thorough planned emergency management drills to better gauge their ability to function during a disaster, such as a bioterrorism attack.

The revisions apply to ambulatory care, office-based surgery, behavioral healthcare, critical access hospitals, hospitals, home care, and long-term care accreditation programs.

Some of the proposed revisions require

  • realistic planned test scenarios related to the priority emergencies identified in the organization's hazard vulnerability analysis

  • measurable performance expectations established by the organization to be used during planned tests to evaluate the timeliness and quality of core performance areas, such as event notification, communication, resource mobilization and allocation, and patient management

  • a person not participating in the test to monitor performance and documents variation from established measurable performance expectations

  • organizations to critique completed tests through a multidisciplinary process that includes administration and clinical staff, including physicians and support staff

  • organizations to modify their emergency management plan in response to critiques of tests

  • planned tests to evaluate the effectiveness of improvements that were made in response to previous test critiques

  • the strengths and weaknesses of performance during tests to be communicated to the multidisciplinary improvement team responsible for monitoring environment of care issues

    To access the field review, click here.

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