The Joint (commission that is)

Every three years the joint commission, formerly and forever known at JCAHO (JAYCO) to those who have been around since before the rebradining, visits each hospital is is responsible for surveying. They just want to ensure that the hospitals are actually doing what they say they are doing.

And you have never witnessed a tizzy like a JCAHO tizzy.

The hospitals are buffed up and painted and cracks are repaired and ceiling tiles inspected.

Employee files are inspected for completeness.

For the OR, there are a couple of different things that can go on. A suveyor can follow a patient through admission to discharge. This can be done to make sure that all the pieces that the organization says it does is actually done in real time. This might take a lot of time and definitely makes the team in the room nervous. Or the surveyor can watch a time out to make sure it is done appropriately. This still makes people nervous, really nervous.

I tell people when they are face to face with a surveyor to always be truthful with their questions. If you don’t know the answer, you can find out. Or you know where to find out.

But most people just hide when the Joint Commission is at the hospital.

Covid gave the Joint Commission a bit of a bumpy time.

At my hospital (we were due in 2020), they had suspended in person visits because of the pandemic. This led to a delay in the survey of about a year, it might have been 18 months.

The Joint Commission is interested on restoring the normal calendar, even if that meant another visit 18 months-2 years after the last.

Same tizzy,

The surveyors will come. Like clockwork. It is to the hospitals advantage to keep key players in place to help guide departments in preparations. This way they will have a front facing person for the surveryors to question.

Speaking to a surveyor is not unlike meeting a wild animal in a dining room. Stay calm, be deliberate in your actions. To quote Phil Slott, an advertising man, “Never let them see you sweat.” Most imporantly, you don’t have to have all the answers, only a few people know and remember all that. It is better that you now where to find the answers and who to ask.

The extra most important thing is to conduct your life as if they can drop in at any time. Because they can. And will, for a sentinel event.

Keep up on damage repairs, always be on the lookout for issues such as stained ceiling tiles. An ounce of prevention will save the hospital hours and many dollars in repair later. My hospital does a really good job in maintaining the hospital plant (that is what it is called).

Also know that there will be a tizzy when surveyors come. A flurry of activity as the water bottles are hidden, as the visible expiration dates are checked, as people are coached, yes, again. As people scurry and hide or walk quickly with purpose if they come across a surveyor.

It’s going to be okay. Just take your mask off when you are done with it, alcohol in and out of rooms, and after an action where you touch a patient.

Take a deep breath.