JCAHO standards: options and opportunities

The 1994 Joint Commission on Accreditation of Healthcare Organizations (JCAHO) standards focus on the hospital as a system. Chapters of the manual are configured around major patient care functions and organizational structures. JCAHO envisions that if these functions are performing well, quality outcomes will result. The standards are written in a generic fashion, which gives hospitals maximum opportunity to develop programs of standards compliance within the resources and capabilities of their organization. Nurse managers have an opportunity to facilitate creative methods to meet standards' compliance.