Joint Commission: Culture of Safety Needed for Residents and Staff

​To draw attention to the need to create a culture that focuses on both the safety of patients or residents and of the workers who care for them, the Joint Commission has released a new monograph. Improving Patient and Worker Safety: Opportunities for Synergy, Collaboration and Innovation, which may interest organizations that are not accredited by the Joint Commission as well as those that are, asserts that high rates of injuries and illnesses among personnel serve as a warning that the healthcare environment as a whole—including in skilled nursing, hospice, assisted living, and home care—must be transformed in order to improve safety. The monograph highlights examples of organizations' practices that address patient or resident and worker safety simultaneously and the benefits and potential cost savings attained through collaboration. The monograph also identifies functional management systems and processes, strategies, and tools that have been used to successfully integrate health and safety activities.