Joint Commission's 2011 NPSGs are Made Available

The 2011 National Patient Safety Goals or NPSGs are now available on the Joint Commission website. The NPSGs assist accredited health care organizations with their efforts to meet the highest standards of patient care by providing guidance in improving and maintaining patient safety and quality of care. Joint commission has revised the goal on reconciling medication information in the areas of:

• Ambulatory
• Behavioral Health Care
• Critical Access Hospital
• Home Care
• Hospital
• Long Term Care
• Office Based Surgery

The revised goal, simply stated..."maintain and communicate accurate patient medication information." However, Joint Commission spotlights 5 critical elements of performance for providers to follow that reduce the risk of adverse drug-related incidents.

In brief detail, the 5 elements of reconciling medication information are:

1. Obtain information about the current medications being taken by the patient.
2. Define the types of medication information to be collected such as name, dose and frequency.
3. Compare current medication information with new medications ordered during the current visit.
4. Provide discharge instructions with written medication information for the patient to follow.
5. Explain to the patient the importance of managing medication information.

For more detailed instructions or information about the 2011 National Patient Safety Goals, read more on the Joint Commission website. Maintaining your Joint Commission accreditation informs your patients, business associates, and community of your ongoing efforts to provide excellent patient care.