New From JCI: Second Edition Ambulatory Care and Clinical Laboratory Manuals

Second editions of Joint Commission International standards for Ambulatory Care and Clinical Laboratories have published in October 2009. These standards will be in effect for organizations undergoing initial or triennial accreditation surveys starting 1 April 2010.

New content in the ambulatory manual includes:
► A new chapter contains the International Patient Safety Goals.
► A significant simplification of the standards was undertaken, with many standards combined or deleted as relevant only to
     acute care organizations.
► The language was crafted to be more relevant to ambulatory care.
► The most significant changes are reflected in the first section of the standards for patient-focused services.
► The Access to Care and Continuity of Care (ACC), Assessment of Patients (AOP), and Care of
    Patients (COP) standards, were grouped and reorganized to reflect the order in which they occur. The new chapters are as
    follows:
    - “Patient Access and Assessment” (PAA)
    - “Patient Care and Continuity of Care” (PCC)
► The Patient and Family Rights (PFR) standards have been revised to include patient responsibilities, and the chapter is
    now titled “Patient Rights and Responsibilities” (PRR).
► The surgery and anesthesia standards have been revised and made into a separate chapter titled “Patient Anesthesia and
    Surgery” (PAS).
► A chapter has been added with standards related to contracted services such as radiology and diagnostic imaging,
    financial accounting, housekeeping, and so forth.
► The expectations regarding the evaluation of sentinel events and adverse events have been clarified, and new expectations
    for a proactive process introduced.
► The Glossary has been updated and expanded.
► The Index has been expanded significantly to facilitate navigating between related standards and topics.
► The processes for the initial and periodic review of the credentials and competence of physicians, nurses, and allied health
    professionals have been made very explicit, with higher expectations related to the portions of the process needed to
    ensure safe, high-quality care in an organization.

New content in the clinical laboratories manual includes the following:
► A new chapter contains the International Patient Safety Goals.
► The format and grouping of the standards were changed to remove the extensive redundancy that resulted when the format
    of the ISO 15189 lab standards was used for the first edition.
► All the standards related to management and leadership were combined into one chapter. In the first edition, these
    requirements were spread over several chapters.
► All laboratory quality control processes were place into one chapter, and a quality control for molecular testing was added.
► Standards related to development and control of policies and procedures were added and placed into one chapter.
► Resource management and management of the laboratory environment were combined into one chapter.
► The requirements from the chapter titled “Planning, Development, and Provision of Laboratory Services” (PDP) were divided
    into other chapters with related requirements.
► The Glossary has been updated and expanded.
► The Index has been expanded significantly to facilitate the user in navigating between related standards and topics.