To that end, JCAHO has published Health Care at the Crossroads: Strategies for Creating and Sustaining Community-wide Emergency Preparedness Systems, which calls for the development of scalable templates for community-based preparedness. ("Lessons from New Orleans," 2005, p. 58) The response by JCAHO was to develop a whole new set of standards to be upheld by accredited facilities with regard to self-sufficiency infrastructure and emergency preparedness functions. In the or such changes might include having immediate access to alternative forms of power for active surgical procedures at the time of the impending disaster or power outage and at least some knowledge of what procedures need to be taken to transfer critical patients out of the area.

Other ways in which an organization or might review for a JCAHO survey that would increase efficacy of individual staff members and increase positive survey results are included in the very comprehensive work titled, the JCAHO Survey Coordinator's Handbook, 9th Edition which develops up-to-date procedures and protocols that might have changed since the preceding survey and how to implement serious in-service training. The work is also demonstrative of ways in which a coordinator might apply training...

Nurse are also the first line of JCAHO surveys in many institutions and must be particularly well prepared for the surveys, as they are usually the members of the staff who are followed and surveyed extensively regarding JCAHO standards. Mock surveys are also a significant example of how an organization might be prepared for the event, when it occurs. Mathias also demonstrates ways in which mock survey's can be made more fun, which demonstrates the ideals of the standards but does not overly challenge nursing staff and others with regard to content, mixing rewards with correct answers or in the case of one institution citations (speeding tickets) for incorrect answers or violations of JCAHO standards preceding the survey.
References

Lessons from New Orleans. (2005, November). Security Management, 49, 58.

Bryant, S.W. & Pejakovich, P. (January 2008) the JCAHO Survey Coordinator's Handbook, 9th Edition HCPro Inc.

Mathias, J.M. (August 2001) Dose of fun aids JCAHO preparation. Or Manager. Boulder: 17 (8) 16-18.