Eastern State Hospital earns Joint Commission Accreditation
Eastern State Hospital has recently earned the Gold Seal of Approval for hospital accreditation from The Joint Commission.
The Joint Commission performance standards ensure that hospitals provide appropriate services to patients and demonstrate continuous compliance with meeting safety and quality standards. The nationally recognized accreditation is valid for up to three years.
“Achieving TJC accreditation is not an easy endeavor, nor should it be. However, achieving accreditation during COVID-19 is astounding. The credit goes to you — our employees. Your hard work and diligence to continuously improve the quality and safety of care for those we serve is evident by our TJC reaccreditation,” said Mark Kettner, ESH’s chief executive officer.
The four-person survey team visited ESH for an unannounced onsite review in March. During the visit, reviewers evaluated compliance spanning several areas including leadership, human resources, emergency management, environment of care, patient rights, infection control and medical practices. The team also conducted daily tracers to follow the path of a patient or a process to ensure all standards were met.
“They were very complementary during our entire survey process with what we’re doing here at ESH,” said Dyana Blood, ESH’s director of Quality Management.
The innovativeness of an ESH staff member, Lincoln Jordan, LPN4, was lauded as a best practice by the survey team.
“We have a staff member who implemented a process on a ward to track expiring products visually using colored dots. One surveyor said that was a great practice, since it is hard to identify when some products expire. Central Supply is now looking to adopt that practice hospital-wide for all products with hard-to-find expiration dates,” Blood said.
She noted that ESH’s preparedness for the survey was due to their “ongoing vigilance. We have a continuous improvement mindset and a patient safety focus. Staying survey ready is just an ingrained, daily part of our work.”