2022 National Patient Safety Goals

The Joint Commission (TJC) established the National Patient Safety Goals Program in 2002 and published the first NPSG in 2003. TJC created the NPSGs to help the organizations which were accredited by TJC to focus on specific high priority areas of national concern with respect to patient safety (Winters-Mine & Miner, 2015).

Experts from the Patient Safety Advisory Group, nurses, physicians, allied health professionals, pharmacists, risk managers, and clinical specialists, as well as others with experience in patient safety in an array of settings, collaborated with TJC to develop the NPSGs (Winters-Mine & Miner, 2015).

TJC with input from recognized experts and leaders garner information about issues surrounding patient safety. This information is not only the base for the NPSGs but also informs sentinel alerts, standards, survey processes, performance measures, and educational materials (The Joint Commission (TJC), 2022).

NPSGs are published each year for nine different programs including hospitals, office-based surgery, laboratories, ambulatory care, assisted living, behavioral health, critical access hospitals, and home care. NPSGs are based on their impact, cost, and effectiveness for each individual program. (TJC, 2021).

The NPSGs inform standard development, are based on patient harm prevention, and focus on surgical safety, preventing hospital-acquired infections, medication errors, inpatient suicide, falls, & pressure ulcers (TJC, 2021).

Why Should Healthcare Professionals Follow the NPSGs? NPSGs are:

• Safety standards that guide the care of patients in organizations that are accredited by the TJC.
• Standards that inform reimbursement
• To be learned and practiced by all healthcare professionals
• Providing a constructive framework for addressing medical errors

(Nursing OnPoint, 2021).

The 2022 NPSGs include the Following:

• NPSG.01.01.01 Use at least two patient identifiers when providing care, treatment, and services.
  • Improve the accuracy of patient identification
• NPSG.02.03.01 Report critical results of tests and diagnostic procedures on a timely basis.
  • Improve communication among caregivers
• NPSG.03.04.01 Label all medications, medication containers, and other solutions on and off the sterile field in perioperative and other procedural settings. Note: Medication containers include syringes, medicine cups, and basins.
  • Improve the safety of using medications
• NPSG.03.05.01 Reduce the likelihood of patient harm associated with the use of anticoagulant therapy. Note: This requirement does not apply to routine situations in which short-term prophylactic anticoagulation is used for preventing venous thromboembolism (for example, related to procedures or hospitalization).
  • Medication safety
• NPSG.06.01.01 Improve the safety of clinical alarm systems.
  • Clinical alarm safety
• NPSG.07.01.01 Comply with either the current Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) hand hygiene guidelines and/or the current World Health Organization (WHO) hand hygiene guidelines.
  • Health Care-Associated Infections
• NPSG.15.01.01 Reduce the risk for suicide.
  • Risk assessment

(TJC, 2022)

In summary, TJC uses strong indicators from a variety of sources to provide standards in the way of NPSGs to help prevent untoward safety events. It is the healthcare professional's responsibility to understand and practice these standards. Your institution’s accreditation could depend on how well these practices are implemented.

^References:

^{Nursing OnPoint. (2021). National Patient Safety Goals. The Joint Commission (TJC). (2021). National Patient Safety Goals.} 

^{TJC.(2022). National Patient Safety Goals.} 

^{TJC. (2022b). National Patient Safety Goals® Effective January 2022 for the Hospital Program.  Winters-Mine, L.A.& Miner, G.D. (2015). National Patient Safety Goals.}