What do you think of JCAHO?

[GardenDove]

I keep hearing more absurd edicts from the joint commission. They've banned certain commonly worn shoes called crocs. They've banned pens that go around your neck. They also seem to have many other annoying and time consuming requirements. I think they are ruining bedside nursing. They seem to think that the more forms filled out, the better.

Yesterday I had a vent pt with restraints. We have a stupid restraint form that needs a million boxes filled every hour. It totally loses it's meaning and does nothing to improve care, but my manager has to worry more about this form than a million more important things. She's always reminding us to fill in the million boxes. I just check them off ahead of time. The pt had many other more important things going on, being on several drips, Q 1 hour blood sugars, and I was taking off orders all day long.

Anyways, I think the regulators have become a self-perpetuating bureaucratic entity in my opinion.

[Marie_LPN, RN, LPN, RN]

Where is the evidence that they banned Crocs?

[GardenDove]

Some mentioned it here that their hospital banned them because the Joint Commission said they were a no-no because of the holes in them.

[NRSKarenRN, BSN, RN]

Some mentioned it here that their hospital banned them because the Joint Commission said they were a no-no because of the holes in them.

Remember whisper down the lane?

JCAHO has no specific ruling on brands of shoes nor on lantern pens.

They DO look at what facilites safety statements and see if they match practice.

If facility policy re uniforms/shoes states "leather shoe" or "Closed toe" or "no clogs" (to prevent occupational injury from items falling/running over/spilling on foot) yet staff are seen wearing items that is where JCAHO dings facility for not following own policies.

[Woodenpug, BSN]

Joint commission is primarily funded by the AMA and the AHA. They often seem very behind the times. The ban on non-black pens is one example. Black pens were required because copy machines did not copy other colors. That has not been true for about 20 years, but you still hear that using a color other than black is "not professional."

I've seen many poor calls by joint commission. If you answer a question, you have to be careful. If you answer in the way of patient teaching, you could get a citation because the surveyor thinks you're not technically proficient. If you answer the way you would answer a colleague the surveyor most likely will not understand and assume you're B.S.'ing. I've seen both of these types of "write-ups." I don't remember what those near citations are called.

[tntrn, ASN, RN]

I think JCAHO makes new policies every year just to justify their own existence. Few of them really have anything to do with improving patient care. I also think that hospital administrations hide behind the JCAHO banner when they post certain rules. For example, requiring us to sign a form saying WHY we didn't get a flu shot, or stating it to be a JCAHO requirement that we tell them the nature of an illness when we call in sick. I don't believe JCAHO has been given the authority to make laws and therefore they cannot require you to tell them either of those things. I guess they think our privacy is not something to be protected. I will refuse to tell them about either of those things. None of their business: Actually, it's not the business of my hospital either. If I'm sick, I'm sick. Period.

[miko014]

JCAHO needs to quit nitpicking. We had a mock survey not long ago, and they didn't like the way we drew up our meds. Now we have switched back to carpujects (which you can't use on a SW'd central line, so you have to put it in another syringe anyway, etc.). They also said that we can't draw up meds in our med room unless we label the syringe with the drug, amount, date, and time and our initials. Or we can draw it up at the bedside. Ummmm okay then what about witnessing wastes? Man, they focus on this stupid little stuff, but not the big issues. They say that pt safety is the most important thing, but you can't fit a walker through our bathroom doors unless you go in sideways. Now, most people who can walk sideways don't need a walker, do they? Also, they dont' care about nurses in the least. Oh, and when they come, we are gonna get some major blows...I'm sure we have about a million violations with people leaving candy on the nurses station, leaving flushes or insulin needles on the computers, etc. I just hope I'm not there the day they show up!

[BULLYDAWGRN, RN]

Can't stand them, never have. Bunch of burnt out academic nurses. Only a handfool of the ones that I've ever had meetings with had real good nursing exp. But most of them stated that they worked for about 2-3yrs, went back to get msn, and then went PI or casemanegment, then joined the jacho nazis... They talk about pt saftey being key issues, well as soon as they make pt ratios nationwide a primary jacho issue, then to bunk with them!

[Altra, BSN, RN]

Remember whisper down the lane?

JCAHO has no specific ruling on brands of shoes nor on lantern pens.

They DO look at what facilites safety statements and see if they match practice.

If facility policy re uniforms/shoes states "leather shoe" or "Closed toe" or "no clogs" (to prevent occupational injury from items falling/running over/spilling on foot) yet staff are seen wearing items that is where JCAHO dings facility for not following own policies.

Thanks, NRSKarenRN.

Information on JCAHO, from their own (extensive) website.

http://www.jointcommission.org/AboutUs/joint_commission_facts.htm

Bottom line: JCAHO accreditation, at all costs, has become a Holy Grail for health care facilities. Without it, facilities risk refusal of payment for services from major insurers, including Medicare, and no large facility can survive financially that way.

[Chaya, ASN, RN]

I think they could potentially do a lot of good but they get caught up in all this nit-picky crap instead, so much so that it often violates safety, confidentiality, etc.. For instance, if they wanted to do something useful, I would love to see them standardize the colors for codes or the colors for precaution bracelets; it would be nice if the color for DNR or even fall precautions were the same from one institution to the next.

[BULLYDAWGRN, RN]

Nope, not the jacho nazis. They'er to concerned about crocks with holes in them and making sure you use black ink.

[wooh, BSN, RN]

It could be a good thing. Just like Magnet Status. But both things instead of really improving things like they claim to do, instead just take away from patient care (and thus safety) to fill out paperwork to "prove" that we're safe. But when have logic and bureaucracy ever crossed paths?