July 2022 Newsletter

In the News This Month

Greetings Everyone,

As our team continues assisting clients in the field with their accreditation and regulatory compliance needs, we wanted to share some of the frequent areas of concern we are observing and provide guidance for how staff can improve in these areas of patient safety concern.

One area frequently overlooked is making sure that medical equipment and devices are accurate and precise. With the criticality that measurements in medicine require, it is crucial for calibration to be maintained to ensure safe patient care. Chris Pratt's feature article, "Medical Device Calibration - Tips for Success" outlines the requirements regarding calibration, and highlights observations in the field which may assist you in identifying potential issues your organization may experience regarding calibration.

Efficient Medication Management is another crucial process to support safe patient care. Incorrect dosing, wrong patient administration, and unsafe storage/preparation practices can lead to patient harm, even death. Therefore, this month our Observations from the Field series article, "13 Effective Medication Management Practices" focuses on examples of opportunities our team is seeing in facilities, providing suggestions for improvement to assist with aligning your program with regulatory requirements.

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.

healthcare worker calibrating medical device

Jun 30 2022

Medical Equipment Calibration – Requirements and Common Issues
What is Medical Equipment Calibration? Calibration of medical devices is performed to minimize any uncertainty in measurements that may be critical to patient care. It reduces errors by ensuring that measurements provide accurate results. These devices may be as complex as MRIs or medical lasers but may be as ...
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About the Authors

Christopher Pratt, MS, BSN, HACP

Chris Pratt is a Senior Consultant with Courtemanche and Associates with more than 33 years in clinical and leadership experience working in varying healthcare positions from the bedside to the Boardroom. In this role, he is responsible for assessing healthcare organizations’ readiness for licensing, accreditation, and regulatory compliance. He is trained in the survey process, auditing approach and survey outcome determination utilized by The Joint Commission, DNV, Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services (CMS), and other regulatory agencies and accrediting organizations. He assists organizations with post-survey activities, education, patient safety strategies, and quality improvement initiatives and has experience in various health care settings including acute care, behavioral health, and ambulatory care settings.

Courtemanche & Associates Healthcare Consultant Chris Pratt
Medical staff documenting medication dosage while administering to patient

Jun 30 2022

13 Effective Medication Management Practices
The management of medications as an important part of patient care is essential to support safe patient care. Incorrect dosing, wrong patient administration, and unsafe storage/preparation practices can lead to patient harm, even death. To eliminate any potential harm that could be caused by medications, healthcare organizations develop and ...
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About the Authors

Christopher Pratt, MS, BSN, HACP

Chris Pratt is a Senior Consultant with Courtemanche and Associates with more than 33 years in clinical and leadership experience working in varying healthcare positions from the bedside to the Boardroom. In this role, he is responsible for assessing healthcare organizations’ readiness for licensing, accreditation, and regulatory compliance. He is trained in the survey process, auditing approach and survey outcome determination utilized by The Joint Commission, DNV, Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services (CMS), and other regulatory agencies and accrediting organizations. He assists organizations with post-survey activities, education, patient safety strategies, and quality improvement initiatives and has experience in various health care settings including acute care, behavioral health, and ambulatory care settings.

Courtemanche & Associates Healthcare Consultant Chris Pratt

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

Jun 3 2022

Imaging Services
This month our C_APPs offering focuses on the imaging service or department providing tools and resources to assist with operational/procedural areas that we often find as problematic during our mock surveys.
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June Focus

Imaging Services

This month's package includes:

  • Sample Policy Template
  • Comprehensive Sample Tracer Checklist
  • Medical Imaging Safety Card Resource

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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