What is the rate of medical error on days that JCAHO visits?

November 19, 2008

It’s something that emergency physician Edwin Leap wonders as a surprise visit sends his ED into disarray.

He wonders if the fear that accompanies the Joint Commission is really the best way to improve patient care by disrupting normal workflow where doctors and nurses do their absolute best to care for patients:

JCAHO descends like a pack of hyenas, dismembering order and good sense, and leaving all the staff scurrying around in terror; and hiding their coffee cups, call schedules, food and anything else one might reasonably expect to see at any sane nursing station.

“It’s tragic and comic,” says Dr. Leap.

Indeed.

topics: jcaho, hospital





  Follow on Twitter   Subscribe



{ 1 comment… read it below or add one }

1 The Happy Hospitalist November 19, 2008 at 3:53 pm

You gotta love the coffee patrol. It feels like kindergarten. I almost feel like I should be in time out when they role in. It’s quite comical.

Leave a Comment

You can use these HTML tags and attributes: <a href="" title=""> <abbr title=""> <acronym title=""> <b> <blockquote cite=""> <cite> <code> <del datetime=""> <em> <i> <q cite=""> <strike> <strong>

Previous post: How to save money in primary care

Next post: How poor physician communication leads to medical mistakes

Site Meter