The Joint Commission is an independent agency that accredits health care organizations and programs. Since 2001, the Joint Commission has published Patient Safety Goals (Table 1) with the intent of reducing medical/healthcare errors by focusing on patient safety issues.4
Table 1. Joint Commission National Patient Safety Goals 2019 for Clinical Laboratories.Patient Safety Goal
| Methods to Meet Goals
|
Improve the accuracy of patient identification.
| Using at least two patient identifiers when providing laboratory services.
|
Improve the effectiveness of communication among caregivers.
| Report critical results of tests and diagnostic procedures on a timely basis.
|
Reduce the risk of healthcare-associated infections.
| Comply with either the current Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) hand hygiene guidelines or the current World Health Organization (WHO) hand hygiene guidelines. Set goals for improving hand hygiene procedures.
|
These are not new goals for the laboratory; patient identification procedures and communication of laboratory test results were included in the first list of goals in 2003. Reducing healthcare-associated infections has been a goal since 2004.
