Joint Commission Announces 2007 National Patient Safety Goals

Last month, the Joint Commission of Accreditation of Healthcare Organizations announced the 2007 National Patient Safety Goals and related requirements for each of its accreditation programs and its Disease-Specific Care certification program. These goals and requirements, recently approved by the Joint Commission's Board of Commissioners, apply to the nearly 15,000 Joint Commission-accredited and certified healthcare organizations and programs.

Just what changes can your facility expect?

Major changes in this fifth annual set of National Patient Safety Goals include extension of a requirement that accredited organizations define and communicate the means for patients and their families to report concerns about safety, across all Joint Commission accreditation and certification programs. The Requirement—first applied to the Home Care, Laboratory, Assisted Living and Disease-Specific Care programs in 2006—is the central expectation of the goal to: “Encourage patients' active involvement in their own care as a patient safety strategy.”

“The 2007 National Patient Safety Goals target critical areas where patient safety can be improved through specific actions in healthcare organizations,” says Dennis S. O'Leary, M.D., president, Joint Commission. “Organizations that truly integrate these requirements into their daily operations will realize major opportunities to improve patient safety.”

If you're not yet familiar with the 2007 Goals and Requirements, read the full text posted on the Joint Commission web site, at http://www.jointcommission.org .