New ASC Patient Safety Goals for 2015

November 24, 2014
|In ASC Safety Codes
|By Linda Socher
Effective January of 2015, ASC patient safety goals according to the Joint Commission will hold some changes.  These new regulations will help to prevent the spread of infection and ensure increased safety in ambulatory surgery centers, hospitals, and other healthcare facilities across the US. The full report is available here: Joint Commission National Patient Safety Goals Effective January 1, 2015

2015 ASC Patient Safety Goals

Some of the main changes you will see in the Joint Commission regulations will improve patient identification, infection prevention, medicine prescription guidelines, and safety in the operation room.

Identifying patients

Medical staff should be trained to confirm at least two types of identification factors from patients requiring surgeries or other treatments. For example, a patient should provide his name plus birthdate or other proof of identity.  This is done to prevent errors in prescriptions or blood transfusions. Note that a room number or location does not constitute verification of identity.

Medicine labelling

All medicine receptacles should be labeled, including syringes.  Any containers holding medicine that aren’t labeled should be marked immediately or discarded, especially in the case of blood thinners. Medications should never be taken out of a labeled container and placed into an unlabeled dispenser. This is to improve ASC patient safety and errors in administration of medications.

Medical reconciliation

Additionally, doctors should increase their efforts in explaining to patients how to use their medications appropriately, and they should encourage them to bring a list of current medications when visiting any ASC or other medical center. This is especially important for patients who receive multiple medication prescriptions. Look for discrepancies in patient’s in-office documentation and health records from the administering hospital. For physicians working in ambulatory surgery centers, urgent care, outpatient radiology, and medical diagnostic imaging, confirm the following:
  • Patient name
  • Medication dosage
  • Route of administration
  • Frequency
  • Reason for usage
The National Patient Safety Goal (NPSG) allows ASC’s that don’t regularly prescribe medications to use their own disclosure in accepting prescription history from patients.

Infection prevention

Millions of American patients receive hospital-associated infections (HAIs) each year. In light of the recent Ebola outbreak, health professionals are urging ASC’s to retrain their medical staff in proper hand-cleaning, as recommended by the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention.

ASC wrong-patient and wrong-site errors

Surgeons are warned to use increased caution in preventing errors in the operating room.  A double-checking system (pre-procedure verification) should be in place to ensure that surgical procedures are performed on the correct patient and on the correct part of the body. What ASC patient safety guidelines can you add to this list? Image by krishna arts

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