The last article coming from the February 2021 EC News is titled “Hyperbaric Oxygen Chamber Safety” and is something we wanted you to pay some extra attention to, as The Joint Commission gives readers their Hyperbaric Checklist detailing Oxygen Chamber Compliance.
Hyperbaric Checklist
What is a Hyperbaric Oxygen Therapy Chamber?
It is a chamber that provides oxygen to either one or more persons in a pressurized environment up to three times of normal breathing air, that is used to treat a variety of conditions and to promote healing.
Hyperbaric oxygen therapy chamber services are always a focus of attention of The Joint Commission consultants on surveys due to the unique characteristics and safety risks of the chamber and its functions.
These safety risks – fire, electrical, and pressurized gas – have the potential to have quite severe complications, which is why the checklist within their article is something you will want to focus on and share to all appropriate team members and staff.
Hyperbaric Oxygen Therapy
Hyperbaric oxygen therapy is a complex clinical service that, maybe to your surprise, not all quality or facility staff may fully understand. This is why we think that this checklist can also be an excellent resource to be used for an evaluation and we do recommend it for such.
Along with their checklist, you will also want to make a refresher on the element of performance EC.02.04.03, EP10 which requires NFPA compliance of construction, equipment, administrative, and maintenance at all hyperbaric facilities.
Other recommendations they suggest for you to review are the standards EC.02.03.01 (fire safety training), EC.02.05.01 (utilities management), and EC.02.05.09 (medical gas management) and Chapter 14 of the Health Care Facilities Code, “Hyperbaric Facilities.”
The Joint Commission made their checklist for you in a Microsoft Word document format so you can easily download it and customize it specifically for your own organization.
The Joint Commission made their checklist for you in a Microsoft Word document format so you can easily download it and customize it specifically for your own organization.
Another resource we have found helpful is the Clinical Hyperbaric Facility Accreditation Manual from the Undersea and Hyperbaric Medical Society. You can download the information here.
Certification Measurement Information Process
I see you refer to the hyperbaric checklist but I cannot find it. Where is the link for that?
Hi Laurie: We removed the link because it was a document published in EC News. Here’s a link to a PDF that contains the same info. Let us know if you need additional information.
I see you refer to the hyperbaric checklist but I cannot find it. Where is the link for that? Your response was a link, but that no longer works. Can you advise?
Hi Joan: Sorry about the broken link. Here is the PDF that contains the checklist: https://www.uhms.org/images/Accreditation-Documents/Fourth_Edition_UHMS_Accreditation_Manual_Final.pdf