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We had both the state and the joint commission last year. The Joint Commission was fairly good. We were asked on the process of how we clean our respiratory equipment, including ventilators, BiPAPs, and bronchoscopes. We were asked about certain anti septic wipes we used for our ventilators.  
The State brought me in for a one on one interview. They were a bit more detailed in their questioning. They pulled random ventilator charting on current in-patients and looked for things such as "reasoning of vent mode, peep changes, etc." During my one on one they also asked how long oxygen tanks lasted (out of all things to ask). Two therapist from my team had their competencies  pulled and all up to PAR. No findings on in  the respiratory department, and very minimal findings overall. Please reach me via email if i can help in any other way. Good luck.

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​We just had our Perinatal Joint Commission recert. They didn't even ask for any employee files!!

We recently had a survey. The only clinical finding was that we were using a detergent to clean our bronchoscopes that was not one of the four recommended by the manufacturer. They are also big on Care Plans right now and are requiring that all hospital problems be addressed in the Care Plan (not just the primary diagnosis.) For example, if the patient has a (controlled) history of asthma and has breathing treatments ordered, asthma is expected to be included in the patient's Care Plan.

​Thanks Connor!  I appreciate your feedback.  We should develop an alliance group to help each other out with policies, protocols and any information that would make the Respiratory team consistent and strong.

​They left last week. It was fairly painless from an RT perspective. They reviewed some competency files and spoke with therapists in the ICU and Med/Surg areas. The physician that was part of their team was a pulmonologist, he had interest in our sleep lab. We spent about an hour going through the lab and talking about workflows with the tech that was here scoring studies. They had no findings in the respiratory areas and it was not a horrible experience.
CMS was right on their heals and showed up this week. They are trying to duplicate what JC does with a survey. They are supposed to leave tomorrow but, are not committing to it. Rumor has it that they showed up with the same M.O. at another hospital in the state and stayed 3 weeks. They are not nearly as enjoyable to work with.