jcaho coming

[Spider Cat]

Hi all - I'm a new grad and have been working med-surg for about 5 months. I guess JCAHO is coming in a couple weeks and I am a wreck. I am just starting to finally not feel quite so stressed out with my new job and now I feel totally imcompetent now that I know they are coming. I don't know what to expect. Is it anything to worry about?? The management gave us this large print out of all the stuff they expect us to be able to flip off the top of our heads and some of the stuff I have never or hardly ever heard of. I work 3-11 and much of the stuff gets done on days so I have no experience with it. Help !!! I'm thinking of calling in sick at least one of the days they are there!!

[Spider Cat]

Thanks for everyone's replies. I feel less stressed already. It's just when you are new you worry about everything ten times more than you need to. And I guess it's fear of the unknown like everything else is.

[SmilingBluEyes]

JCAHO makes me very angry. The whole concept. If things are done right all along then there is no need for this hysteria before they come. It's all about money and politics. People who are so far away from patient care keep coming up with rules for us to follow. Usually this just means more paperwork to take away from patient care. I never saw them bust us for our deplorable staffing.

this is so true. :angryfire

[inanna]

i have been a rn for 4 years now. but i remember feeling the way like i didn't know anything. and well, when jchao comes around, trust me, we all feel that way, no matter how long we've been nursing. our hospital just went through a survey last month. it went well. since you work 3-11, it is likely the survey team won't even be there on your shift. they usually tend to visit earlier. but that's not written in stone. the surveyor took one chart, followed that one pt, and talked with one nurse in depth, along with our charge nurse and director of nursing, and she drilled them for about an hour and a half. but that particular nurse wasn't alone during the survey. oh, and a big thing with our surveyors was if the nurses knew where the oxygen shut off was and who was allowed to shut it off. make sure to know that. they ask every dept in our hospital. good luck.

[redshiloh]

We've had in Inspector General in December, then JCAHO in July 2005 and our rehab certification in August 2005. We ALWAYS seem to be on some sort of prep for somebody. MANAGEMENT gets in an uproar and remember what rolls downhill. Try to relax, on the eve shift I seriously doubt you will see anybody.

[boulergirl, CNA]

Gee...I wish i could help you but I actually had no idea "they" came around and quizzed people.

Yes, they do. In fact, my stepdad is a systems programmer who does computer work at the nearby hospital from time to time and guess what? He has to know how to answer their questions, and memorize information irrelevant to his job. Our pastor and his wife care for a disabled child at home, and THEY have to deal with JCAHO as well.

[Fun2, BSN, RN]

What is JCAHO? I'm sure I'll find out soon enough though....lol

Is it something like OSHA?

Thanks! :)