Joint Commission Releases 2021 National Patient Safety Goals

Every year, The Joint Commission consults with industry experts and stakeholders to gather information about emergent issues in patient safety and care. From their findings, they release an annual report of their National Patient Safety Goals, tailored specifically for programs like Ambulatory Care, Hospitals, and Nursing Care Centers. According to the Joint Commission, these goals inform their "sentinel event alerts, standards and survey processes, performance measures, educational materials, and Joint Commission Center for Transforming Healthcare projects."

The Joint Commission recently released their National Patient Safety Goals for 2021. The 2021 Goals cover Ambulatory Health Care, Behavioral Health Care and Human Services, Hospitals, Critical Access Hospitals, Home Care, Nursing Care Centers, Laboratory, and Office-Based Surgery. For each program, the Joint Commission released a detailed chapter outlining the goals, as well as a simplified overview.

The Joint Commission's Hospital Goals for 2021 include: 

• Identify patients correctly, using at least two forms of identification
• Improve staff communication
• Use medicines safely
• Use alarms safely by ensuring that medical equipment alarms are heard and responded to
  on time
• Prevent infection and follow CDC guidelines for hand cleaning 
• Identify patient safety risks
• Prevent mistakes in surgery

The complete list of 2021 goals for Ambulatory Health Care, Behavioral Health Care and Human Services, Hospitals, Critical Access Hospitals, Home Care, Nursing Care Centers, Laboratory, and Office-Based Surgery can be found here.

This year, Latrobe Regional Hospital focused on improving their staff communication, and it led to a 68% reduction in their stroke treatment times. Here's how they did it.