The Joint Commission's updated Survey Activity Guide is finally online. Here are some tips on what the changes mean for you.

Review your infection control plan for Ebola now that the CDC is recommending that all U.S. healthcare settings should ask about international travel while screening patients and visitors for signs and symptoms of COVID-19.

This is Brian Ward and A.J. Plunkett, editors of Patient Safety Monitor Journal and Inside Accreditation & Quality and we are looking for feedback on our newsletters: what we're doing well, what we need to improve, what topics you want more coverage of. To do that, we are reaching out to subscribers to schedule short, one-on-one calls where you can share your thoughts on our newsletters. These calls would be 10-15 minutes and we'll also accept typed answers to the questions below.  

Please email us at bward@hcpro.com with either your availability or your typed answers. 

The prolonged social isolation brought on by the COVID-19 pandemic has created unique challenges for psychiatric hospitals and intermediate care facilities for individuals with intellectual disabilities (ICF/IID) that often depend on a patient’s family, caregivers, and friends to provide physical and emotional support.

In recognition of these challenges, CMS has issued two memos with guidance and suggested best practices for family and friends’ visitation, as well as infection control in these settings.

Both documents offer outstanding guidance and are “very clear on expectations,” notes Kevin Ann Huckshorn, PhD, MSN, RN, ICADC, director of evidence-based practices and programs for Wellpath Recovery Solutions.