From a hospital chaplain, moving beyond traditional Reformed evangelicalism.
Monday, February 22, 2010
Joint Commission Came!
Several weeks ago Joint Commission showed up for the unannounced (yet expected)accreditation survey. We did pretty well with some recommendations, none of which were from "Rights and Responsibilities of the Individual" chapter of the accreditation manual. I think we were lucky on that one because we struggle to get the advance directive piece right. I am a big proponent of folks executing advance directives, particularly health care proxies (a.k.a."durable power of attorney for health care" in some states). This IS NOT a matter only for the elderly. Anyone over 18 ought to designate someone they trust, and with whom they have discussed health care wishes, to make medical decisions for them in the event they lose capacity to make their own decisions. One never knows when a traumatic injury will occur. Having someone make decisions on your behalf will go a long way to keeping your case out of the ethics committee and the legal system. Hospitals and other health care facilities have the forms used in your state. GIT'R'DONE!
Subscribe to:
Post Comments (Atom)
Just read you blogs and could identify with them and concurred with your comments, coming from a slightly different experience base. Until recently I was part of a crisis team in a school system and was acutely aware of the necessity of making sure I had time to decompress in the midst of the crisis and let others step in when I needed a break.
ReplyDeleteAlso, as a key person in making final health decisions for others in my life, I have learned how important advanced-health directives are
in making life-and-death decisions for the person involved, the medical team and those close to the person. In fact I just updated mine !