by Kelsey Herbers
Surveyors from The Joint Commission (TJC), an independent, not-for-profit organization that accredits and certifies more than 22,000 health care organizations and programs in the United States, visited Vanderbilt Wilson County Hospital (VWCH) in December to conduct an unannounced survey.
VWCH leaders have received notification from the organization’s surveyors the hospital has been reaccredited.
“The Joint Commission conducted an exhaustive survey of our facility, and I am very happy with the results,” said Jay Hinesley, MHA, president of VWCH. “At Vanderbilt Wilson County Hospital, we provide excellent care every day, and the survey is just one more way we validate our performance. I am extremely proud of the team.”
TJC surveyors visit accredited health care organizations a minimum of once every 36 months (two years for laboratories) to evaluate standards of compliance using surveyors who are doctors, nurses, hospital administrators, laboratory medical technologists and other health care professionals.
Surveyors randomly select patients and use their medical records as a roadmap to evaluate standards of compliance. As surveyors trace a patient’s experience through a health care organization, they talk to the doctors, nurses and other staff who interacted with the patient and often speak with patients themselves.
Prior to the December visit, the hospital’s last Joint Commission survey took place in March 2017.