[StillBelieveRN]

Hi All - Has anyone been visited by JCAHO recently? If So, can you tell me the type questions that are being posed to ER staff? I have an ED in anxiety about the next visit and I would like to prepare for what they might encounter, with real experiences, other then our own.

Thank you!

[bill4745]

They asked new nurses about their orientation and they asked where the fire extinguishers and pull-stations were.

[erdiane]

they wanted logs on restraints, concsious sedation, etc. caused a huge freakout w/mgmt. They were big on DNU abbreviations......

[RunnerRN]

I only work weekends so I "missed" our JCAHO visit this yr (they showed up on Monday, and left on Friday late...darn) but I've heard from many of my coworkers that they followed patients this time. They followed a visit from registration/triage, to the room, to xray/CT, to inpatient room. They wanted to be sure we were reporting off correctly, patient's privacy was being addressed, and transitions were smooth.
It was *supposedly* not bad. The hard thing is doing everything the "right" way (by right, I mean JCAHO's definition of right) even when it is getting crazy busy.
Good luck!

[Larry77]

Just finished an inspection recently, this group was huge on our pain reassessments, they were not happy with a revital with new pain scale they want it all in the nurses notes-exactly what the response was why we initially medicated for pain (with the c/o not being sufficient). They also made sure we are doing a good job with med req's and confidentiality. Seems like every group we get is big on one specific item and this time it was the pain scale.

So we decided to continue what we are doing because it wasn't a mark that needs reassessment by them, but just a suggestion and our nurses note's area is not even close to being large enough to accommodate the added charting. Pain scale is being reassessed be glad for it peeps...

[TazziRN]

Pt safety goals and med reconciliation

[iceyspots]

I have a friend that works in the ER and they were pretty strigent on patient safety, monitoring restraints, emergency plans and the likes

[grammyr]

Expecting company any day. Will let you know

[StillBelieveRN]

Tazzi,

thanks for the info...and I love your prayer!!!!!!!!

[EmerNurse]

We had our visit recently. They were big on documentation of restraints of course, and med recon. Also, they managed to find a chart where the nurse hadn't given a (non-critical) ordered med yet (it'd been a couple hours) and they got all over her. Nevermind that she'd been completely tied up with a seriously critical ICU patient beforehand. Or tha t the ER was (yet again) swamped beyond capacity. They got on him and then even followed the patient upstairs to peruse his chart more thoroughly. As to the question of "if the nurse was so busy, why didn't her co-workers jump into the gap?" the answer to that is simple. THEY were swamped as well. No one was sitting around eating oatmeal while the nurse in question drowned with the ICU patient.


Seems the Joint Commission takes things "at a glance" without looking at the context of the working environment at all. We're all supposed to be super nurses at all times. Last night we were bringing in people from the waiting room who'd been there since Monday MORNING. That's how bad it's getting. And we're scrambling to get it all done, get 'em all admitted, get 'am all cared for... and it's all our fault.

Sigh.