Medication use standards being field tested

AORN Journal, March, 2002

The Joint Commission on Accreditation of Healthcare Organizations (JCAHO) is conducting a field review of medication use standards, according to a Jan 10, 2002, news release from the organization. These standards have been revised to increase the focus on patient safety.

This review is for hospitals and long-term care and ambulatory care facilities. The standards include input from two expert panels and use a systems approach that focuses on safety. The revisions address key processes of a medication use system, including

* selecting, procuring, and storing;

* prescribing or ordering and transcribing;

* preparing and dispensing;

* administering; and

* monitoring.

The revised standards use evidence-based good practices and management of critical risk points in the system. Organizations must monitor and improve system performance regularly and integrate medication use activities into performance and safety improvement activities.

The purpose of the field review is to allow JCAHO to determine the standards' potential contributions to safe medication use and to assess organizations' readiness to meet the revised standards. January 2003 is the earliest that the revised standards would be implemented.

JCAHO is Field Testing Revised Medication Use Standards Designed to Boost Patient Safely (news release, Oakbrook Terrace, Ill: Joint Commission on Accreditation of Healthcare Organizations, Jan 10, 2002) http://www.jcaho.org/news/nb354.html (accessed 22 Jan 2002).