NMCSD Completes Successful Joint Commission Survey

Naval Medical Center San Diego (NMCSD) completed the demanding onsite triennial survey by The Joint Commission (TJC) from July 18 to July 22.

TJC’s mission is to continuously improve health care for the public, in collaboration with other stakeholders, by evaluating health care organizations and inspiring them to excel in providing safe and effective care of the highest quality and value.

Since the TJC’s last visit, NMCSD has not only continued to provide the quality health care to its beneficiaries, but has done so while supporting numerous real-world missions, to include the COVID-19 pandemic.

“A tremendous amount of effort goes into preparing for a Joint Commission survey, and the effort extends well beyond the survey period,” said CDR John Ewing, NMCSD chief medical officer. “After our 2019 survey, no one imagined that we would be dealing with a pandemic before this survey.”

Expert surveyors from TJC evaluated NMCSD’s hospital and primary care medical home programs across the continuum of care. As the nation’s oldest and largest health care accreditor, TJC surveys health care organizations for compliance with its performance standards during a rigorous, onsite visit.

“The Joint Commission surveyors evaluated compliance with standards related to areas such as provision of care, emergency management, environment of care, infection prevention and control practices, leadership, and medication management. Surveyors also conducted onsite observations, patient tracers, and interviews with staff,” stated Ewing.

Ewing, who also serves as NMCSD’s director of Quality Management with oversight of continuous process improvement initiatives, and his team, know the significance of continuously leveraging opportunities to ensure NMCD is delivering ready, reliable quality healthcare.

“A successful Joint Commission survey is truly a team effort and is validation for the hard work that our teams put in every day to provide the highest quality care to our patients. I am incredibly proud of the entire staff’s sustained dedication, their engagement with the surveyors, and the evident pride that they demonstrated in our organization ,” said Ewing.

“While we will take some time to enjoy the successful outcome, we realize that high reliability is an ongoing journey and not a one-time evolution or destination. There is still work to be done to address the observations from the surveyors, sustain the success, and continue to improve across the organization.,” said Ewing.

NMCSD’s mission is to prepare service members to deploy in support of operational forces, deliver high-quality healthcare services and shape the future of military medicine through education, training and research. NMCSD employs more than 6,000 active duty military personnel, civilians and contractors in Southern California to provide patients with world-class care anytime, anywhere.