TIL: National Patient Safety Goals

TIL: National Patient Safety Goals (NPSG)

November 5th, 2014

Today I learned that the National Patient Safety Goals (NPSG) are a set of goals and regulations set forth by the Joint Commission. They were first developed in 2002 but not enacted until 2003. All accredited institutions are required to comply with these goals, however, they are only required to comply with the goals that apply to that specific institution. The Joint Commission reviews the goals annually based on data given to them by the accredited institutions complying with the goals. All of these accredited institutions are required to report mistakes, patients, etc to the Joint Commission each year to help improve the goals. These goals were designed to prevent hospital mistakes that never should have happened originally. NPSGs are "goals" published by the Commission that targets specific areas where goals are needed to improve patient care.