August 2022 Newsletter

In the News This Month

Greetings Everyone,

It’s hard to believe it is already August! Cooler weather is only about 75 days away! We hope you are all doing well and enjoying the summer with family and friends.

Accrediting and Regulatory Agencies are back in full force and there continues to be a heavy focus on reducing and eliminating the risk of hospital-acquired infections. Our feature article this month, “How to Break the Chain of Infection” by Pat Cook, outlines five areas that can have a substantial impact on the overall cleanliness of your organization.

Continuing with our From the Field series, this month Denise Smith writes about “Care Plans and Patient Education - The Roadmap to Caring for Your Patients”. This article speaks to many of the situations we and surveyors are encountering in the field and gives suggested solutions you may wish to try.

We hope you find these articles informative and helpful in assisting you with your ongoing regulatory readiness. Please reach out to us at info@courtemanche-assocs.com for additional information or any service needs you may have.

nurse cleaning door handle in hospital

Aug 2 2022

How to Break the Chain of Infection
Today, more than ever, we need to continue to focus on reducing and eliminating the risk of hospital-acquired infections. Our focus needs to be multi-faceted. We hear from many organizations that they have focused performance improvement activities happening within their Sterile Processing Departments. One area that often is overlooked ...
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About the Authors

Patricia Cook, B.S., R.Ph, HACP, GRCP

Pat Cook is a Senior Consultant and Head of Consulting Services at Courtemanche & Associates. Working in collaboration with the C&A Leaders, Pat manages Courtemanche & Associate’s business development initiatives and oversees the clinical delivery of services and support. With her extensive healthcare experience, Pat serves as a knowledgeable resource to new and existing clients, helping to guide them through their accreditation and regulatory needs.

Patricia Cook Consultant & Author
Nursing care plan diagram

Aug 2 2022

Nursing Care Plans and Patient Education: A complete Guide for Nurses  
Care Plans - UGH!!!  A nursing care plan documents the process of identifying a patient's needs through nursing assessments and facilitating care based on those assessed needs. A care plan ensures collaboration among nurses, patients, and other healthcare providers. The purpose of a care plan is to document the ...
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About the Authors

Joseph Esch, MBA CHFM

Joseph Esch is a Life safety surveyor and consultant. He is trained under the HFAP Acute Care and Critical Access Hospital requirements, as well as The Joint Commission accreditation requirements for the physical environment, fire safety, Life Safety Code®, and Emergency Management chapters. Joseph has 14 years in healthcare, his primary focus is the operations, plant and the physical environment. He has assisted in the planning and initial startup of facility programs in several acute care facilities, including the implementation of CMMS, compliance program, capital forecasting, and facility condition indexing and has been chairman of the EOC committee. He currently holds a Certified Healthcare Facility Manager certification issued by the American Hospital association in 2015 and is a member of the American Society of Healthcare Engineers and the local chapter of Chesapeake Area for Healthcare Engineers.

Healthcare Accreditation & Regulatory Consultant Denise Smith

C_APPS 2022

Fresh from the Field

Our C_APPS membership provides monthly offerings January through November including regulatory & accreditation tools, resources, tracers, policy checklists, and other key aids to facilitate ongoing success with changing expectations.

C_APPS Healthcare Accreditation Tools & Resources 2022

Jul 1 2022

Medication Management
This month's C_APPS offering focuses organizations on their Medication Management Processes providing tools and resources designed to assess compliance on patient care units and other areas where medications are stored and/or administered.
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July Focus

Medication Management

This month's package includes:

  • Medication Management Sample Tracer
  • Medication Error Sample Tracer
  • ISMP 2022-2023 Targeted Medication Safety Best Practices for Hospitals

C_Apps Resources & Tools

C_APPS is an Exclusive Membership Service resource developed by Courtemanche & Associates that provides monthly offerings of regulatory and accreditation tools, resources, tracers, policy checklists or other key aids to facilitate ongoing success with changing expectations.

Disclaimer: The information on this website is published in good faith for general information purposes only. This website does not make any warranties about the completeness, reliability and accuracy of this information.

The Joint Commission® is a registered trademark of Joint Commission on Accreditation of Healthcare Organizations. Courtemanche & Associates has no affiliation with this entity.

Courtemanche & Associates | (704)-573-4535 | Email: info@courtemanche-assocs.com

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