Nursing Topic Highlights

Each year, the Joint Commission gathers information about emerging patient safety issues from widely recognized experts and stakeholders.

Identify Patients Correctly

Use at least two ways to identify patients. For example, use the patient's name and date of birth. This is done to make sure that each patient gets the correct medicine and treatment.

Improve Staff Communication

Get important test results to the right staff person on time

Use Medicines Safely

Before a procedure, label medicines that are not labeled. For example, medicines in syringes, cups and basins. Do this in the area where medicines and supplies are set up. 

Take extra care with patients who take medicines to thin their blood. 

Record and pass along correct information about a patient’s medicines. Find out what medicines the patient is taking. Compare those medicines to new medicines given to the patient. Give the patient written information about the medicines they need to take. Tell the patient it is important to bring their up-to-date list of medicines every time they visit a doctor

Use Alarms Safely

Make improvements to ensure that alarms on medical equipment are heard
and responded to on time.

Prevent Infections

Use the hand cleaning guidelines from the Centers for Disease Control and
Prevention or the World Health Organization. Set goals for improving hand
cleaning

Identify Patient Safety Risks

Reduce the risk for suicide

Improve Health Care Equity

Improving health care equity is a quality and patient safety priority. For example, health care disparities in the patient population are identified and a written plan describes ways to improve health care equity

Prevent Mistakes in Surgery

Make sure that the correct surgery is done on the correct patient and at the correct place on the patient’s body. 

Mark the correct place on the patient’s body where the surgery is to be done.

Pause before the surgery to make sure that a mistake is not being made

Standardizing Preoperative Vaginal Antisepsis. AORN journal. 2025;122(1):P4-P6. 

Periop Briefing spoke with Michelle Robison, MSN, RN, AGCNS‐BC, CNOR, perioperative clinical nurse specialist at UCLA Health in California, about standardizing preoperative vaginal antisepsis from 10% povidone‐iodine (PI) to 4% chlorhexidine gluconate (CHG).