JCAHO Creates International Center For Patient Safety, Appoints Chief PSO

The Joint Commission on Accreditation of Healthcare Organizations (JCAHO) and Joint Commission Resources (JCR) announced in March plans to establish the Joint Commission International Center for Patient Safety and the appointment of Peter B. Angood, M.D., as chief patient safety officer and co-leader of this major new undertaking.Ý

The launching of the center marks the 10-year anniversary of an intense Joint Commission effort to improve patient safety through a wide array of initiatives. Beyond the progressive elaboration of patient safety standards, the Joint Commission has amassed a unique database of over 3,000 sentinel events and the results of related root cause analyses. The latter information has served as the principal basis for the Joint Commission's widely recognized Sentinel Event Alerts and the more recent development and annual issuance of National Patient Safety Goals. In addition, the Joint Commission has developed a soon-to-be-published patient safety taxonomy that is currently progressing through the National Quality Forum's consensus development process, and is also being considered by the World Health Organization as the potential platform for creation of an international taxonomy for patient safety. Further, through its award-winning Speak Up^TM Campaign, the Joint Commission has encouraged patients to take an active role in preventing medical errors and adverse events. Speak Up initiatives have thus far addressed avoidance of medication errors, prevention of wrong site surgery, and protection of living organ donors, among other subjects.

The center's initial efforts will focus on the identification, gathering, analysis, and dissemination of patient safety solutions, both in this country and abroad, and upon the creation of organization cultures of safety that embrace continuous attention to safety-focused, systems improvement efforts. These are seen as the most significant near-term opportunities for achieving major advancements in patient safety.

The new Center for Patient Safety plans to launch its Web site soon. Meanwhile, a high-level international advisory group is being constituted. Regional advisory groups in strategic locations around the world will complement this effort.

In his role as chief patient safety officer, Angood will work with the center's other two principals, Richard Croteau, M.D., and Laura Botwinick, and will work with critical resource groups across the Joint Commission and JCR to integrate existing patient safety initiatives and products, and begin to develop a database of patient safety solutions. Croteau is executive director for Strategic Initiatives at the Joint Commission and was the creator of its Sentinel Event Database. Botwinick is currently on leave from the Joint Commission as a George W. Merck Fellow at the Institute for Healthcare Improvement and will return to JCR as a vice president early this coming summer. Angood will also hold a vice president title at the Joint Commission.

Source: www.jcaho.org

DMAA Calls for Papers on Patient Safety

The DMAA's Patient Safety Workgroup is calling for papers that address patient safety in disease management including:

• case studies of best practices in disease management (non-hospital setting),
  
• evaluations of efforts to improve patient safety in DM populations,
  
• technology and remote monitoring/devices as contributors to patient safety in DM, and
  
• reaction to the DMAA's definition of patient safety.

Four to five papers will be selected for a Patient Safety panel at the Disease Management Leadership Forum, October 16 - 19, San Diego. This call targets disease management organizations, health plans, employers, practitioners and researchers. To submit your paper, visit www.dmaa.org, click on 2005 DMLF, and select abstracts. Questions may be directed to Karen Fitzner, kfitzner@dmaa.org or (312) 337-8295.

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