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Who oversees patient safety?
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Patient safety begins at the top, with Saint Raphael's Board
of Trustees. The board's Quality Committee reviews patient
safety data and can recommend changes to enhance safety. Saint
Raphael's Quality Improvement/Patient Safety Committee and the
Patient Safety Steering Committee develop organization-wide
policies and objectives on quality and safety. We also employ
a full-time patient safety coordinator who monitors compliance
and works with staff members to improve safety in their departments/areas.
Each employee is charged with patient safety as his/her first priority.
Outside monitoring
Saint Raphael's also meets numerous requirements and recommendations
established by the state and federal governments and state and national
accrediting organizations. Those requirements and recommendations cover
areas like patient identification procedures, administering medication,
fall prevention, facility safety and cleanliness and others. These
organizations periodically inspect healthcare institutions to ensure
compliance. Saint Raphael's is licensed and/or accredited by these and
other institutions:
- Connecticut State Department of Public Health: Inspects hospitals, long-term
care facilities and other healthcare organizations at least every three years.
- Joint Commission on the Accreditation of Healthcare Organizations (JCAHO):
Conducts extensive surveys every three years that cover virtually every area
of the Hospital and aspect of care. Survey participation is voluntary.
Accredited institutions are evaluated on compliance with JCAHO's National
Patient Safety Goals.
- Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services (CMS): Part of the U.S. Department
of Health and Human Services, CMS surveys healthcare institutions to ensure
they meet CMS quality standards. CMS also regulates all laboratory testing
(non-research) on humans in the United States through the Clinical Laboratory
Improvement Amendments to ensure quality.
- Accrediting Council for Graduate Medical Education (ACGME): The private,
not-for-profit ACGME accredits residency programs nationwide. Its goal is to
improve the quality of health care by ensuring and improving the quality of
graduate medical education experiences for physicians in training.
- Accreditation Association of Ambulatory Healthcare: Accredits Saint Raphael's
Hamden Surgery Center. Helps ambulatory healthcare organizations improve their
quality of care. Accreditation is voluntary, and measures the quality of an
ambulatory healthcare organization's services against national standards.
 Return to Patient Safety
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