The Joint Commission’s Commitment to Safety

The Joint Commission’s commitment to patient safety is inherent in its mission. At its heart, accreditation is a risk-reduction activity and compliance with the standards is intended to reduce the risk of bad outcomes. The Joint Commission demonstrates its commitment to patient safety through other numerous efforts, including its Sentinel Event database, its Sentinel Event Alert patient safety newsletter, and the establishment of annual Joint Commission National Patient Safety Goals.

• Central to this work is the Sentinel Event Advisory Group, which was formed in February 2002. Each year, the Advisory Group works with Joint Commission staff and organizations representing key stakeholders to recommend National Patient Safety Goals to The Joint Commission Board of Commissioners for approval; the first goals became effective in January 2003. The goals help accredited organizations address specific areas of concern in regards to patient safety.

The Joint Commission participates in several coalitions organized to improve patient safety.

• As a member of the World Health Organization (WHO) World Alliance for Patient Safety, The Joint Commission has a leading role in the six major Alliance initiatives, including developing an International Classification for Patient Safety to facilitate the global exchange and dissemination of information among users of disparate incident reporting systems. The Joint Commission International Center for Patient Safety is the operational arm for this collaboration.
• The Joint Commission International Center for Patient Safety has convened a “Champions for Patient Safety” group to address “macro” issues in patient safety.
• The Joint Commission helped form and is a member of the National Coordinating Council on Medication Error Reporting & Prevention, a coalition of 22 member organizations that developed principles for constructing patient safety reporting programs.
• The Joint Commission is a founding member and serves on the board of the National Patient Safety Foundation.
• As an initial board member of the National Quality Forum, The Joint Commission is working with the NQF to create consensus around nationally agreed-upon measures for quality and safety. The Joint Commission is also participating in a steering committee that has identified a series of serious reportable events to be used by organizations that set up adverse event reporting systems. As a member of the NQF Maintenance Committee for the “Safe Practices for Better Health Care,” The Joint Commission is working to harmonize those safe practices with the National Patient Safety Goals.
• The Joint Commission is an affiliate of Consumers Advancing Patient Safety, a national consumer-led organization that serves as a collective voice for individuals, families and healers who suffer harm in health care encounters.

The Joint Commission is also involved in the High 5s initiative, established through the collaboration of the Commonwealth Fund, the WHO World Alliance for Patient Safety and the WHO Collaborating Centre for Patient Safety. The High 5s initiative’s goal is to implement innovative, standardized operating protocols for five patient safety solutions over five years. The solutions are:

• Prevention of patient care hand-over errors.
• Prevention of wrong site / wrong procedure / wrong person surgical errors.
• Prevention of continuity of medication errors.
• Prevention of high concentration drug errors.
• Promotion of effective hand hygiene practices.

This initiative works to implement solutions that would broadly prevent avoidable catastrophic adverse events causing death or serious injury in hospitals.

The Joint Commission also conducts patient safety-related research, publishes books and organizes conferences on patient safety, evaluates complaints and reports of concerns about Joint Commission-accredited health care organizations, and publicly discloses information about accredited organizations through Quality Reports (available at www.qualitycheck.org).