Recent Articles
Portland hospital investigated after child’s clothing unexpectedly catches fire
Here is a story that will cause more than one hospital to take a look at its own policies and procedures:
Earlier this week an 11-year-old cancer survivor and patient of Doernbecher Children’s Hospital ran from her hospital room with the front of her tee-shirt on fire. The child, who will need skin grafts and burn treatment for her injuries, was at the hospital after hitting her head at school.
Now an investigation is underway to find out whether a combination of hand sanitizer and static electricity are behind this terrible event. The incident raises questions as part of an ongoing debate–manufacturers of non-alcoholic hand sanitizers cite dangers of fire as a reason for using their products, while experts, including the Center for Disease Prevention and Control (CDC) still feel that alcohol-based sanitizers are the single most effective way of preventing transmission of germs.
AHAP members: what is your reaction to this event? Has it made you look into your own policies on hand sanitizers? Or is this one of those rare cases where a series of unfortunate occurances led to a tragic event that was otherwise impossible to predict? Share your thoughts below, or on the listserv.
For more on this story, visit the Oregonian’s website.
Coming soon: Forms and tools library to the AHAP website
AHAP is gathering tried-and-tested tracers, policies, and education/training materials for the upcoming launch of our new membership benefit: a library full of sample forms and tools to help you with your survey readiness needs.
If you have a helpful survey readiness tool, sample policy, or form that you would like to submit to the Association of Healthcare Accreditation Professionals (AHAP), please email associate director Jaclyn Zagami at jzagami@hcpro.com.
Soon, AHAP members will be able to download and use these tested tools and forms developed by your accreditation colleagues. Accreditation expert volunteers will ensure the compliance and effectiveness of materials, and new policies, tracers, and education materials will be added regularly, saving you time and effort.
Also, note that these forms will be posted to the AHAP website to be shared among the AHAP membership, but credit to the original developer will be required for use.
January issue of AHAP Insider available for download
AHAP members- the latest issue of the AHAP Insider, our quarterly association journal is now available for download. Inside you’ll find the results of our latest benchmarking survey on defining the role of survey coordinators, a Q&A on evaluating RFIs, and a Meet a Member featuring an active advisory board member who has recently retired from her 35-year career as a director of accreditation.
AHAP 2013: We’re betting on red
What can we say, we like our odds! That’s why we’re headed back to Las Vegas for the 2013 Seventh Annual AHAP conference, June 6-7, 2013 at the Flamingo Las Vegas Casino and Hotel.
For the second time we are offering our Accreditation Specialist Boot Camp as a pre-conference event to help get new accreditation professionals started on the right foot. Spend two-and-a-half days at the Boot Camp— a unique classroom-based learning experience that delivers detailed descriptions, analysis, and training of all Joint Commission and CMS standards— and end your week building your professional network at the 7th annual AHAP conference.
As usual, we will award the 2013 Accreditation Professional of the Year and the Best New Accreditation Professional. We’re also bringing back our popular poster session, and a Day 1 roundtable discussion with our speakers and top accrediting bodies.
What type of sessions will you find at the conference? Here’s a sample:
- A session on staying organized and keeping up with the ever changing Joint Commission and CMS standards requirements
- A session on improving focus areas and reviewing regulatory changes and top RFIs for 2013
- A session presented by a Life Safety expert focusing on Environment of Care and Life Safety management, and the documentation that accreditation professionals never get to see
- Sessions on tracers and managing the mock survey process to prioritize improvements and correct vulnerabilities
- A presentation by The Joint Commission on the challenging balancing act of managing risk is healthcare organizations
- Sessions on performance improvement and managing CMS QAPI requirements
- A case study presented by a director of accreditation who successfully completed the process of achieving advanced comprehensive stroke certification
- Sessions on continual compliance staff training, education, and competency
- And more!
We owe a great deal of gratitude to those who made the 2012 conference such a wonderful experience for us and attendees alike, including Jean Clark, Jodi Eisenberg, Greg Finch, Brad Keyes, Dana Moore, Candy Bright, Suzanne Richards, Sharon Chaput, Kirk Woodring, John Finnerty, and Gaye Hay.
Click here to view more information and registration details. If you have any questions about the 2013 conference, please don’t hesitate to contact me at jzagami@hcpro.com. I hope to see you all in Vegas!
Join us on the podium for the 2013 AHAP conference!
We are currently seeking speakers to present at the seventh annual AHAP Conference to be held June 6-7, 2013 at the Flamingo Las Vegas Casino & Hotel in Las Vegas.
We seek speakers to present on all aspects of hospital accreditation and encourage case studies of successful programs.
Here is a list of additional topics that would make great conference sessions:
- Statistics and data management
- Maximizing your risk assessment to eliminate TJC and CMS vulnerabilities
- Career ladder for accreditation professionals: Motivation and recruitment strategies
If you don’t see your hot topic here, please write and let us know what expertise you can bring to the podium.
Click this link, complete the form, and submit it to us no later than January 23rd. Please be sure to include a brief description of your suggested session topic.
We look forward to hearing from you! If you’d like more information or wish to discuss a speaking topic before applying, please e-mail me at jzagami@hcpro.com and we’ll set up a convenient time to speak by phone.
EOC chart
We’ve had a few requests to repost the EOC chart discussed in a recent post in a different format, as many readers were having trouble opening it in Word. Please find at the link below a new PDF version which should open up in a much easier to download format for you.
http://blogs.hcpro.com/ahap/2012/12/chart-for-tracking-environment-of-care-issues/
4th and final 2012 benchmarking report posted!
Happy New Year, AHAP members! We just wanted to let you know that our last benchmarking report of 2012 has been posted to the site for you to download. It compares and contrasts the widely varied job responsibilities and job titles of AHAP members and other survey coordinators across the country.
You can find the report here, or by copying and pasting the URL below into your browser. (Note: You will need to be logged in to view the report, which is free for all members.)
http://www.accreditationprofessional.org/benchmarking_survey.cfm?topic=WS_AHP_QBS
We look forward to publishing more reports for you in the coming year!
Chart for tracking Environment of Care issues
In this month’s issue of our sister newsletter, Briefings on The Joint Commission, AHAP advisor Elizabeth Geffers crafted an article looking at The Joint Commission’s recent examination of Environment of Care standards and their inherent challenges. As part of that article, she put together a very helpful chart tracking those standards and aligning them to the CMS Conditions of Participation.
We’d like to share her chart here with you. You can download the chart by clicking on the link below.
New benchmarking survey: the many hats of survey coordinators
For our last benchmarking survey for 2012, we have decided to poll members on their job responsibilities to help create a snapshot of what the roles and responsibilities of accreditation professionals across the country look like. It’s long been said that survey coordinators wear many hats, and this survey is intended to help members compare their role to how it is handled at other organizations and among other AHAP members.
We invite you to take just a few minutes to participate in the survey by clicking here. If the hotlink does not work, you can also copy and paste the URL below into your web browser.
https://www.research.net/s/XPGM9X3
As always, survey results are anonymous, and will be compiled in a report for members after closing. Thanks for your time, and we hope you take a few moments to participate! We will follow up this survey with our annual Salary Survey early in 2013.
Latest networking call posted to AHAP site
Hello, everyone. I just wanted to let you know that if you missed last week’s networking call you can now listen to the recording on the AHAP website.
The recording can be found here, or by pasting the URL below into your browser:
http://www.accreditationprofessional.org/quarterly_networking_calls.cfm
During the call, our guest speakers outlined a hospital that lost CMS certification and how they survived this hospital near death experience. It was a great call that we hope will be of interest to all of you.
The guest speakers have also put their materials online, which can be found here:
compass-clinical.com/ahap
As always, if you have any suggestions for future networking call topics, let me know!
