JCAHO Announced Surveys - Essay Example

To evaluate the effectiveness of this program and to investigate the major areas of non-compliance with quality standards set by JCAHO. I analyzed the top 10 areas where minimum quality standards were not met. Surprisingly, there was little difference detected between large and small hospitals. What will be interesting is to evaluate the process again after January 2006 when JCAHO completes it transformation from Scheduled to Unscheduled Surveys.
To begin with, let us reflect on a few facts regarding the American healthcare involving Hospitals or other healthcare facilities. Around 89.9 million Americans sought medical attention in hospital emergency rooms in 1992 alone. Given the population of the United States, that meant 357 out of every 1,000 people being treated (Nelson & Stassman, 1994, pg. 5) and 762 million visits to primary care physicians (Hall & Owing, 1994, pg. 158) annually. Checking into any hospital, although often a stressful event, is a relatively routine occurrence laced with the assumption that quality health goes hand in hand with a visit to a healthcare provider. It is not until one experiences or reads about terrible healthcare tragedies that questions regarding its quality are voiced. If unchecked, such shortfalls can remain undetected as it is not always a major catastrophic, highly visible problem that affects a patient's safety while hospitalized. The responsibility to detect potential problems and solve them before a tragedy occurs is a responsibility ... Read More