Spine Center of Excellence Gets Recertified
UNC Health Blue Ridge has earned The Joint Commission’s Gold Seal of Approval® for the Spine Center for the second time by demonstrating continuous compliance with its performance standards.
The Gold Seal is a symbol of quality that reflects a healthcare organization’s commitment to providing safe and quality patient care. The certification recognizes healthcare organizations that provide clinical programs across the continuum of care for the spine. The Joint Commission evaluates how organizations use clinical outcomes and performance measures to identify opportunities to improve care and educate and prepare patients and their caregivers for discharge.
Blue Ridge’s Spine Center of Excellence underwent a rigorous one-day survey where a team of Joint Commission reviewers evaluated compliance with related certification standards. These standards are developed in consultation with healthcare experts and providers, measurement experts, and patients.
“The survey demonstrated that we solidified and made progress on the goals that we set in 2021 when the Spine Center first earned certification,” said Jonathan Williams, DPT, Spine Center Coordinator at UNC Health Blue Ridge.
Those goals included creating more substantial educational materials for patients, establishing a straightforward process for managing patients allergic to penicillin-based antibiotics, and pain control for post-operative patients.
“We are retiring three out of four of the goals and adding antibiotic stewardship to reduce the risk of surgical site infection, increase participation in our pre-education class before a patient has surgery, and early mobility after surgery,” Williams said. “We are going to keep working on managing a patient’s pain while developing an opioid reduction plan.”
“We have put a lot of time and effort into this certification to assure patients of our quality standards,” said Jill Ryan, CPHQ, CPPS, Executive
Director of Accreditation, Quality & Performance Improvement at UNC Health Blue Ridge. “The excellence of our spine surgeons, Jason Zook, MD, and Robert Cope, DO, and our team of clinicians was validated through this survey experience.”
The team who worked on this project consists of a multi-disciplinary team within Blue Ridge including surgical service nurses, medical-surgical floor nurses, rehabilitation, pharmacy, and quality and patient safety. “The goal of re-certification could not be obtained without the strong work of this team,” Williams said.
The Joint Commission’s certification may last for up to two years.
