National Patient Safety Goals (NPSG) is prescribed for the prime purpose of improving the level of patient safety in different kinds of healthcare environments. The goals center on solutions at the system level and therefore are also helpful in bettering the quality of services offered at the medical facilities.

The following 5 points will tell you more about the various aspects of NPSG.

– About NPSG: The Joint Commission on Accreditation of Healthcare (JCAHO) whose name was later changed to simply the Joint Commission is a well known non-profit organization that accredits several courses and organizations throughout the country. It is the Joint Commission that is responsible for establishing the NPSG in the year 2002 and implementing the very first set of these goals from January 1, 2003.

– Patient Safety Advisory Group: The NPSG requires regular updating to keep up with the surrounding developments. The responsibility of establishing the need for up gradation and advising the Joint Commission accordingly rests with the Patient Safety Advisory Group. This special panel consists of well experienced professionals who work in different healthcare environments and are directly involved in the issues concerning patient safety. Some of them include physicians, nurses, pharmacists, clinical engineers and risk managers. Having such professionals in the panel who have hands-on knowledge not only helps in better identification of the potential risks but results in a more active participation by the healthcare organizations due to participation and creditability.

– Purpose of NPSG: There are certain typical areas within the healthcare field that compromises the safety of patients. NPSG strives to address such troublesome aspects by setting down the goals to ensure better practices to eliminate such problems. An important area that requires special attention is proper identification of the patient when administering treatment whether it is giving medicines or carrying out any medical procedure from blood tests to surgeries. Accurate and good communication and preventing infections are other aspects that require constant focus.

– Process: The members of the Patient Safety Advisory Group work with the staff of the Joint Commission to find out any new threats to patient safety. The panel then proceeds to find out effective ways to address such issues and advises the Joint Commission about the same. After taking the inputs of all the stakeholders into due consideration the Joint Commission will prioritize the issues and the most effective manner to tackle them.

– Participation in the Course: The participation in the NPSG course is voluntary and any healthcare organization that desires to be accredited will have to implement all the prescribed goals. Today more than 16,000 organizations have been provided with accreditation by the Joint Commission. However each organization has to submit the required documents and also be prepared for surveys so as to ensure maintenance of the accreditation.

The NPSG are updated each year; however that does not mean that new goals are brought in annually. The revision may also pertain to newer clinical practices, streamlining some of the processes, or stressing on particular facilities for implementation of certain goals.

For more information, please visit our national patient safety goals website.

For more information, please visit our national patient safety goals website http://www.hipaaexams.com/national-patient-safety-goals.html

Author Bio: For more information, please visit our national patient safety goals website.

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Keywords: national patient safety goals,Prevention,Disease Control,World Health organization,medications