Healthcare Joint Commission and Joint

Healthcare

Joint Commission and Joint Commission International

"As the international arm of the Joint Commission, Joint Commission International (JCI) has been working with health care organizations, ministries of health, and global organizations in over 80 countries since 1994" (About Joint Commission International, 2011). The main idea is to improve the safety of patient care by way of accreditation and certification services as well as by serving in an advisory and educational role aimed at aiding organizations put into practice sensible and sustainable declarations.

Accreditation is a procedure in which an entity, that is detached and different from the health care organization, generally nongovernmental, evaluates a health care organization in order to decide if it meets a set of necessities intended to advance quality of care. Accreditation is characteristically voluntary. Accreditation standards are typically regarded as optimal and attainable. "Accreditation provides a visible commitment by an organization to improve the quality of patient care and/or services, ensure a safe environment and continually work to reduce risks to patients and staff. Accreditation has gained worldwide attention as an effective quality evaluation and management tool" (Common Questions and Answers Regarding JCI Accreditation, Clinical Laboratories, and These Standards, n.d.).

In 2011, JCI was awarded a four-year accreditation by the International Society for Quality in Health Care (ISQua). This accreditation provides assurance that the values, preparation and procedures utilized by JCI to survey the performance of health care organizations meet the highest global benchmarks that have been set down. All areas of JCI have been accredited. This includes the overall accreditation program and the standards used to accredit hospitals, primary care organizations, ambulatory care organizations, care continuum entities such as home care and long-term care, clinical laboratories, and clinical care programs. "In addition, ISQua has also accredited the JCI training program for on-site surveyors located around the world" (About Joint Commission International, 2011).

The task of Joint Commission International (JCI) is to move forward the safety and quality of care in the global community. The tools used include education, publications, discussion, and evaluation services. The Joint Commission Resources educational programs and publications support are separately run programs from, the accreditation actions that are carried out by Joint Commission International. Those who attend Joint Commission Resources educational programs and those who buy any Joint Commission Resources publications do not get any special consideration or treatment during the accreditation process (Facts about Joint Commission International, 2012).

Once an organization has attained JCI accreditation and certification, they then have the use of an assortment of resources and services that link them with the international community. These include: "an international quality measurement system for benchmarking; risk reduction strategies and best practices; tactics to reduce adverse events, and the annual Executive Briefing Programs" (About Joint Commission International, 2011).

The accreditation process is intended to produce a culture of safety and quality within an organization that strives to steadily improve patient care processes and results. In doing so, organizations:

advance the idea of public assurance that the organization is concerned for patient safety and the quality of care present a safe and capable work environment that adds to worker satisfaction negotiate in regards to sources of payment for care in regards to data on the quality of care pay attention to patients and their families, value their rights, and connect them in the care process as partners produce a culture that is open to learning from the timely reporting of unfavorable events and safety concerns set up joint leadership that sets precedence's for and unremitting leadership for quality and patient safety at all points (Introduction, n.d.).

In 2012 Joint Commission made quite a few changes to the 2012 accreditation decision rules. These rules present the consistent structure that the Joint Commission uses to deliver an accreditation decision limiting unpredictability or prejudice. The first thing that was changed was that of decision rule PDA06. This changed in that if one is accredited with a decision of contingent, instead of having two occasions to clear the non-compliant standards, an organization now only has one chance. If one does not clear all the standards that lead to their contingent decision then the next step is preliminary denial of accreditation. The next thing that has been changed is that of CONT02. Under this rule in 2011 if one were given an accreditation with follow up status, they had two chances to clear that status. In 2012 this rule changes to allow for only one chance and if an organization is not successful in getting rid of all requirements they will then receive contingent accreditation (2012 Accreditation Decision Rules, 2011).