(The Joint Commission: Oakbrook Terrace, Illinois) -- The Joint Commission recently announced the 2009 National Patient Safety Goals and related requirements for each of its accreditation programs and its Disease-Specific Care Certification Program.

The National Patient Safety Goals promote specific improvements in patient safety by providing health care organizations with proven solutions to persistent patient safety problems. These goals apply to the more than 15,000 Joint Commission-accredited and -certified health care organizations and programs.

Major changes for 2009 include three new hospital and critical access hospital requirements related to preventing deadly health care-associated infections due to multiple drug-resistant organisms (MDROs), central line-associated bloodstream infections, and surgical site infections. These additions build on an existing National Patient Safety Goal to reduce the risk of health care-associated infections, and recognize that patients continue to acquire preventable infections at an alarming rate within hospitals.

The new requirements related to central line-associated bloodstream infections will also take effect for ambulatory care facilities and office-based surgery practices, home care organizations, and long-term care organizations. In addition, prevention of surgical site infections will be a new requirement for ambulatory care facilities and office-based surgery practices.

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