Joint Commission perspective: using standards and indicators to monitor performance.
Two activities are concurrently underway at the Joint Commission on Accreditation of Healthcare Organizations: revision of standards for "Infection Control" which will continue to be used for the survey of hospitals development of the "Agenda for Change", a progress report on an extensive research and development project which is expected to use several infection control-related topics in the development of hospital-wide clinical indicators. This article outlines the Joint Commission's scope of services, and discusses the proposed new infection control standards and the topics to be pilot-tested for potential use as hospital-wide clinical indicators. The initiatives defined in the Agenda for Change, which involve several programmatic changes and modifications in the standards and survey procedures for the 1990s, are also addressed.
D000068:Accreditation; D003428:Cross Infection / Q000517:prevention & control*; D006761:Hospitals / Q000592:standards*; D006801:Humans; D007591:Joint Commission on Accreditation of Healthcare Organizations; D010865:Pilot Projects; D011785:Quality Assurance, Health Care / Q000592:standards*; D012015:Reference Standards; D014481:United States