National Safety Goals - Medication Reconciliation

How long has it been since you've reviewed your medication reconciliation procedures? 

Although most of us associate the Joint Commissions with the hospitals: their authority extends further.  If you do surgery in your office, you too are subject to their review. 

 Before you stop reading, believing this doesn't apply to you, consider:

• Do you do injections?
• Do you do lesion removals?
• Do you sometimes sew up a cut?

Technically, all of the above are surgeries.

New medication reconciliation standards will go into effect July 1, 2011,  The draft copy of the standards as well as other safety goals related to the office surgery practice may be found at:

http://www.jointcommission.org/obs_2011_npsgs/.

Even if a visit from the joint commissions to your practice is unlikely, keep in mind that standards such as these can and are used to show a reasonable standard of care in malpractice cases.