All Entries in the "EC" Category

Risk assessments are the way to go with power strip use

As you might guess, I’m in favor of using the risk assessment process to look at the issue of power strip use in hospitals.

And I’d start with a determination of whether a power strip is the most appropriate strategy, with the recognition that once you start with the power strip as opposed to additional electrical outlets, you’ve increased [more]

Keeping a grip on your outsourced medical equipment management

When it comes to medical device management outsourced to vendors, you might consider monitoring the performance of equipment managed by contract as a function of downtime.

It may be that you are paying for more service than [more]

Regulatory gray areas around this series of less-than-best practices

I was asked about a clean utility room that is also an electrical storage closet, which contains electrical panels, many wires, and oxygen cylinder storage against the wires.

It sounds like the organization had to make use of the available space for its network cabling, and while this is not an optimal environment of care practice, there’s no real regulatory language that precludes it. That said, there are a couple of things I would cite as “other environmental concerns” to consider: [more]

Behavioral settings are tailor-made for risk assessments

I heard about a surveyor who correctly noted that gooseneck faucets could be considered a hanging risk for behavioral patients.

This is where the risk assessment process blooms in all its beauty. The behavioral health physical environment is chock-a-block [more]

Think about steps to thwart not just infant abductions, but kidnappings of older kids

There is some indication that there is at least one Joint Commission surveyor who is very keen to see what processes are in place to avoid potential abductions of children in the 12+ age range (I tend to think of them as adolescents as a general descriptor).

While environment of care standard EC.02.01.01, EP 9 does specifically mention [more]

Properly secured medical gas cylinders center on convenience — that’s all

I’m told there was a mention at the ASHE conference that The Joint Commission might introduce a compressed medical gas cylinder standard in 2011.

And what wonders would result from a compressed gas storage standard? Oh yes, that’ll force [more]

ASHE may have “had it up to here” with CMS when it comes to damper testing

You can really sense the frustration that ASHE — and more precisely, that of Deputy Executive Director Doug Erickson — has with CMS these days. Just read the latest ASHE bulletin to its members about six-year damper testing and you’ll feel the bad vibes. [more]

Bimonthly safety committee meetings are no longer mandated in the EC standards

You may remember an environment of care requirement in the past that mandated safety committee meetings occur at least bimonthly.

That specific requirement under the old EC.9.20 [more]

Security best practices noted at the ASHE conference

I just sat in on a great session by hospital security expert Fred Roll of Healthcare Security Consultants. Here are a few tidbits from his presentation: [more]

The mythical annual EC report to leadership

Despite a commonly held myth, there is not now, nor has there ever been, an environment of care (EC) requirement for a “report” to leadership.

There is, and has been for some time, a requirement for [more]