Nightingale Community Hospital Jcaho Audit Preparation: Information Management
Running Head: INFORMATION MANAGEMENT AUDIT 1
Executive Summary
Nightingale Community Hospital is preparing for a Joint Commission on Accreditation of
Healthcare Organizations, or JCAHO, audit. In preparation of the coming audit, Nightingale has released JCAHO’s Priority Focus Areas for the hospital. The priority focus areas outlined are Information Management, Medication Management, Communication, and Infection Control. The area of focus for this assessment will be Information Management. Information management is one of the most important systems in health care. Maintaining a complete and accurate record of the patient’s health care information. The patient’s health record includes all information about the patient, the health care the patient has received, and all practitioner’s notes pertaining to the patient’s care. Compliance in Information Management ensures that the hospital maintains a high quality of patient care.
Information management, as outlined by JCAHO, includes three Joint Commission
Standards in the audit. The first standard, IM.02.02.01, which encompasses whether the hospital manages the collection of information effectively. The standard includes three Elements of Performance, or EPs. The three EPs include whether the hospital uses standardized and uniform data sets to collect information, whether the hospital uses standard, consistent terminology, abbreviations, symbols and whether the hospital follows a policy of prohibited abbreviations, symbols, and dose designations among other performance measures (The Joint Commission, 2012).
Upon review of the first EP as well as the reports and documentation provided by
Nightingale Community Hospital, the Admission Orders form allows for consistent, pertinent patient information to be collected to ensure optimal continuum of care for patients. The form should be reviewed on a regular basis to ensure that critical data points are included in the data
Running Head:
Executive Summary
Nightingale Community Hospital is preparing for a Joint Commission on Accreditation of
Healthcare Organizations, or JCAHO, audit. In preparation of the coming audit, Nightingale has released JCAHO’s Priority Focus Areas for the hospital. The priority focus areas outlined are Information Management, Medication Management, Communication, and Infection Control. The area of focus for this assessment will be Information Management. Information management is one of the most important systems in health care. Maintaining a complete and accurate record of the patient’s health care information. The patient’s health record includes all information about the patient, the health care the patient has received, and all practitioner’s notes pertaining to the patient’s care. Compliance in Information Management ensures that the hospital maintains a high quality of patient care.
Information management, as outlined by JCAHO, includes three Joint Commission
Standards in the audit. The first standard, IM.02.02.01, which encompasses whether the hospital manages the collection of information effectively. The standard includes three Elements of Performance, or EPs. The three EPs include whether the hospital uses standardized and uniform data sets to collect information, whether the hospital uses standard, consistent terminology, abbreviations, symbols and whether the hospital follows a policy of prohibited abbreviations, symbols, and dose designations among other performance measures (The Joint Commission, 2012).
Upon review of the first EP as well as the reports and documentation provided by
Nightingale Community Hospital, the Admission Orders form allows for consistent, pertinent patient information to be collected to ensure optimal continuum of care for patients. The form should be reviewed on a regular basis to ensure that critical data points are included in the data
Running Head:
References: The Joint Commission. (2012). The Joint Commission Comprehensive Accreditation and Certification Manual. Retrieved from https://e-dition.jcrinc.com/MainContent.aspx. Running Head: INFORMATION MANAGEMENT AUDIT 6!