Can JCAHO Patient Safety Goals Have An Impact?
Everyone dreads the potential experience of making a mistake that affects patient care. However, the complexity of healthcare lends itself to these situations. Caring for patients requires a series of interconnecting steps in order to produce the desired outcome. As physicians and surgeons try to minimize the variables that arise, there are still factors, some of which we are accountable for and some not, that can add up to a bad clinical outcome. Many states have regulations that require licensed healthcare facilities, such as hospitals and nursing homes, to report any unusual patient care problems to the state licensing agency. State health inspectors would follow up with a facility to see that the facility puts corrective actions in place to remedy or prevent such an incident from occurring again. Licensed facilities would work with the state health departments to develop an acceptable plan. Unfortunately, these mistakes and subsequent correction actions typically occur in isolation
