Implement Standards to Improve Care

Now that you've seen the standards, is your organization ready to implement them? You can assess your readiness in a variety of ways, including:

• Conduct mock surveys. Walk through your facility and see how well you meet the requirements.
• Identify gaps in compliance. Document areas where improvement is needed. This will help target your efforts and prioritize where resources need to be allocated.
• Develop timetable to compliance. Once you've identified areas for improvement, assign completion dates for each gap identified. This will help you formulate a readiness date for your on-site survey.

Joint Commission standards help you develop strategies to address the most complex issues and identify key vulnerabilities in the patient care experience. The standards review various aspects of your patient care process — such as infection prevention, medication management, and environment of care — ensuring a comprehensive review of your patient care process.