Stronger safety cultures prevail in accredited SNFs, study shows

Accredited nursing homes have stronger resident safety cultures than non-accredited homes as reported by in a study and published in the Joint Commission Journal on Quality and Safety. Senior managers at more than 4,000 U.S. facilities indicated that Joint Commission accreditation influenced safety issues, including staffing, teamwork, training, open communication and nonpunitive reactions to errors.

Researchers suggest that sustaining the level of standards of compliance necessary for accreditation helps to maintain a facility’s safety culture focus. An earlier study indicated that accredited facilities had fewer deficiencies than those that were not accredited.