The Joint Commission introduced the National Patient Safety Goals in 2003.  As each year passed, standards were raised and became more challenging to meet. Additionally the number of goals and the sophistication of the goals have changed.  But are they meaningful to nursing and to patient care?

As the goals were initially introduced, there were people who had doubts that this was another “dot the ‘i’, cross the ‘t’” standard. However, over time, with improved patient outcomes, it has become clear that these very important standards are making a difference in patient care.

The clear articulation of these goals put some “teeth” into issues that nurses and other healthcare providers have been struggling with for years. By requiring attention to these key, patient-centric goals, the Joint Commission challenged organizations and all of us, to put effort in some definitive, specific areas that impact our patients.

The initial patient safety goals were process focused; for instance, monitoring if two identifiers used, looking at universal protocol followed in surgery, etc. But as the years have progressed, the focus of the National Patient Safety Goals is becoming more outcome-focused. Not only are facilities being asked to measure an action, but also what is the outcome. In 2009 the Goal related to falls requires that facilities not only implement standards that are shown to reduce falls, but to measure the number and severity of falls. The next step is to reduce both the number and the severity of falls.

The National Patient Safety Goals are only one of the key programs that are challenging healthcare programs and facilities to make specific changes that impact patient care. This year, The Centers for Medicare and Medicaid (CMS) introduced a number of complications that will be ineligible for reimbursement. Expect others as we move forward.
 
Nursing is critically involved in both the development and implementation of these goals. This is a unique and wonderful opportunity for our profession to show how critical we are to all of the patient safety initiatives and to high quality patient care.