Proposed JCAHO Patient Safety Goals 2008

The Joint Commission on the Accreditation of Healthcare Organizations has released their proposed 2008 Patient Safety Goals. A new topic area goal is sleep apnea:

"The problem for sleep apnea patients following surgery is they can’t wake themselves up under heavy sedation, according to Kevin Finkel, MD, an anesthesiologist at Barnes Jewish Hospital in St. Louis, MO, speaking to HCPro's Quality Improvement Report newsletter. About 90 percent of sleep apnea patients are undiagnosed, he said. For that reason hospital staff needs to look for signs of the condition and ask patients if they snore. Patients who are obese or have a neck circumference of more than 17 inches are also at more likely to have sleep apnea."

The JCAHO is seeking input on the proposed 2008 Patient Safety Goals.