Joint Commission for Accreditation of Hospital Organization education standards: perioperative applications

The Joint Commission for Accreditation of Hospital Organization, as a major accrediting body for health care organizations, has identified patient and family education as a critical element in the delivery of quality health care services as a means to improve overall outcomes for consumers. This belief is evidenced in the fact that they have created a new chapter in the accreditation manual that targets this aspect of the care delivery process. Health care organizations are now being challenged as a requirement for accreditation to show that they have operationalized education in their care delivery processes. Education of surgical patients, although not a new concept, has taken on a new dimension given the increased shift to ambulatory and short stay surgery. This article explores the standards related to patient and family education as applied to the surgical experience and provides information for the perioperative nurse on how these standards can be incorporated into existing processes in caring for surgical patients.