When accreditation organization (AO) surveyors show up for survey, people automatically become nervous. The reaction is natural. Yes, the surveyors are there to find issues where you do not comply with the standards, but isn’t that a good thing?
Make sure your facility’s weekly and monthly environmental walkthrough checklist includes looking for anything resting on fire sprinkler pipes, and don’t forget to check the “back of the house.”
ECRI, a long-standing patient safety organization in Pennsylvania, has listed verbal and physical violence against healthcare staff as its second-most important patient safety concern for 2023.
Almost every critical access hospital surveyed by the Accreditation Commission for Health Care from June 1, 2021, to May 31, 2022, was cited with infection prevention and control deficiencies for not mitigating problems within the physical environment.
Ensure your workers are up to date on respirator fit testing and falls protection protocols, especially if OSHA has cited your healthcare facility for those safety problems in the last five years. If the facility is found to be a “willful” repeat offender, the penalties could be much worse...
Be sure you understand the requirements of your state or local fire authority having jurisdiction (AHJ) when evaluating the annual testing of your hospital’s medical gas program.
