The Joint Commission on Accreditation of Health Care Organizations recently surveyed Samaritan Albany General Hospital and awarded accreditation for another three years.

The five-day survey involved reviewing documentation and medical procedures at the hospital and its hospice and home health office. The surveyors commented that this was one of the better surveys they had completed in the past six months and that hospital employees were eager to demonstrate how patients are cared for.

Encouragement was also given by the survey team to move SAGH to the next level of accreditation. The hospital's Women's Center and Evergreen Hospice were given special mention for outstanding processes pertaining to emergency drills and the process for tracking clinical indicators and risks to prevent infections and patient falls.

Five requirements for improvement were issued:

• The hospital needs to improve daily procedures surrounding clinical justification of certain types of patient orders.

• The hospital needs to improve documentation for tracking the timeliness of critical results reporting.

Home care was issued the follow improvement needs:

• The type of information stored in employee files.

• The need to refine the labeling process for specimen containers.

• A need to improve the clarity of comfort care medication orders.

Action plans must be submitted for each RFI within 45 days of the recommendation. Within four months a report consisting of data to demonstrate improvement in the areas specified must be submitted in order to maintain the three-year accreditation going forward.

Four Samaritan hospitals in Linn, Benton and Lincoln counties were surveyed in late 2007 with the fifth expecting a survey sometime in the first quarter of 2008.

The Joint Commission on Accreditation of Health Care Organizations, an independent, not-for-profit organization, accredits and certifies more than 15,000 health care organizations and programs in the United States. JCAHO accreditation and certification is recognized nationwide as a symbol of quality that reflects an organization's commitment to meeting certain performance standards. Surveys for accreditation are unannounced visits.

Democrat-Herald