Hosted by: rL Solutions
Presented by: Karen Fernandes - President of AYR Consulting Group
Date of Webinar: Friday July 25th, 2008
Time: 1:00pm - 2:00pm Eastern Standard Time
Topic: How to Conduct Successful Joint Commission Surveys
Cost: FREE / No Charge
Download: How to Conduct Successful Joint Commission Surveys.pdf

rL Solutions in partnership with Karen Fernandes, President of AYR Consulting Group, will be hosting a Webinar entitled “How to Conduct Successful Joint Commission Surveys”. Registration for this Webinar will be open until 5:00pm EST on Thursday July 24th, 2008.

Webinar Summary:

As a member of the Joint Commission’s Hospital Advisory Council, Karen Fernandes will be presenting the some of the standards to focus on for a successful Joint Commission Survey. A successful survey is more difficult to achieve in 2008 due to the heavy scoring of non compliance. Many hospitals are falling into the Conditional or Preliminary Denial of Accreditation status and then having to face clarifications and a Clarification Validation Survey.

The Joint Commission is in a period of change. On July 1st they released the first edition of the 2009 standards that promise even more changes to scoring and standards. Education for your hospital’s leaders and Medical Staff continues to be key in Continued Survey Readiness, and the challenging standards of today will continue to be challenging standards in 2009. Join us for an update on the Joint Commission.

About Karen Fernandes

Karen Fernandes has been a nurse for over thirty years and is founder and president of AYR Consulting Group. She began her nursing career in New England and has held many positions in nursing from Medical/Surgical, Emergency, OB, Nursing Supervisor, Chief Nursing Officer and Director of Quality Management. Prior to establishing a consulting firm, Karen was with Tenet Health System and the Daughters of Charity National Health System now called Ascension.

Karen served as chairman of Joint Commission’s Professional Technical Advisory Committee for Hospitals 2001-2003 and served as a member of that committee for six years. She is now a member of Joint Commission's Hospital Advisory Committee and was part of Joint Commission’s Nursing Advisory Council for four years. Most recently she worked on a Joint Commission task force developing the new scoring of standards for 2009. Additionally, Karen was a member of the Federation of American Hospitals Quality Committee and served as Chairman of the Quality Committee 2000 - 2003. Karen is also a member of the National Quality Forum on the Consumer Council.

Karen presents seminars on Joint Commission survey preparation, readiness and compliance to Joint Commission standards. AYR Consulting conducts mock surveys and provides for continued survey readiness for hospitals. Karen speaks at hospital conferences, Medical Staff and Governing Board meetings on attaining Joint Commission standard requirements.

As a volunteer, Karen serves as Vice President of DES Action/USA, a non-profit organization whose goal is education, advocacy and support of the millions of Americans exposed to the drug Diethylstilbestrol in utero. Karen has participated in NIH research studies on DES. She has also authored a DES Exposure Nursing Curriculum which is available in the United States, Canada and Europe.

About rL Solutions

rL Solutions is committed and truly passionate about improving the quality of healthcare and improving patient safety through the application of software solutions in healthcare. Our Risk Management, Patient Feedback, Claims Management and Infection Control & Surveillance software solutions are specifically designed to make hospitals more efficient and effective when it comes to their Patient Safety initiatives. For more information, please visit our website at http://www.rl-solutions.com .