Preparing for a Commission on Cancer (CoC) Survey can be an intimidating and frightful event, particularly for those who have never experienced “the visit.” Almost like a myth, the survey stories seem to grow into a more and more intimidating and frightful event than it is truly meant to be. The true purpose of the accreditation or re-accreditation survey is for the surveyor to get a real feel for the functionality of the cancer program. To see and hear things that cannot be interpreted from a Survey Application Record (SAR) document.
Registry Partners has an extensive history of working with many programs to prepare for not only the best possible outcome, but to really gain from the experience of the survey process. Surveys are intended to be educational, consultative and provide the program with opportunities to improve upon ways to provided quality cancer care in their community.
The idea is to be as prepared as possible and go the extra mile to ensure that the surveyor is getting the feel of not only your program but perhaps even the patient experience. Consider yourself as a host or hostess of an open house. Welcome people to come in and look around, encourage questions and inquisitions.
Simple suggestions to go from Savvy to Suave in style is to fully complete the SAR in a timely manner, provide the surveyor with an update agenda for the day, listing names and roles of people he or she will be meeting. Let the surveyor begin to connect the dots. Give the surveyor specific directions to the facility, describe parking, building entrance, be sure you meet and greet. Share emergency contact information in case something unexpectedly comes up – you work for a hospital so knowing that preparedness is the key should not be a surprise. Create name and job title tent cards for participants so the surveyor can begin to identify faces with names. If the surveyor is going to be part of meals, be sure to check for any dietary restrictions, you don’t want to order steak for lunch and find out the surveyor is a vegetarian.
Some of the above mentioned tips are simple and easy to implement, however, they are the important touches that take you from being Savvy to being Suave. Registry Partners is always available to assist programs in pre-survey application record reviews and/or mock surveys. It never hurts to have a rehearsal and get the kinks out of the process before the real deal.
For more information, please contact Registry Partners by following this link or submit a question through our Question Submission Form to the right.