Joint Commission Releases Report Regarding Pain Assessment and Management Standards

The Joint Commission recently released a report to help hospitals better understand and comply with new pain assessment and management standards that will be applicable to all Joint Commission-accredited hospitals, effective January 1, 2018. An independent, not-for-profit organization, The Joint Commission accredits and certifies over 21,000 health care organizations and programs in the United States. Joint Commission accreditation and certification is recognized nationwide as a symbol of quality that reflects an organization’s commitment to meeting certain performance standards. The August 29, 2017, issue of the R3 Report highlighted the new pain assessment and management standards for hospitals that are accredited by the Joint Commission. The standards are in the following chapters of the hospital accreditation manual and are designed to improve the quality and safety of care provided by Joint Commission-accredited hospitals: Leadership; Medical Staff; Provision of Care, Treatment and Services; and Performance Improvement. The new requirements include the following: That the hospital has a leader or leadership team that is responsible for pain management and safe opioid prescribing and developing and monitoring performance improvement activities; That the hospital provides nonpharmacologic pain treatment modalities; That the hospital provides staff and licensed independent practitioners with educational resources and programs to improve pain assessment, pain...
Source: Policy and Medicine - Category: American Health Authors: Source Type: blogs