Joint Commission International (JCI) is an accreditation agency based out of Illinois USA. Their programs include accreditation of Hospitals, Laboratories, Academic Medical Centre etc and, providing Certifications on Specific Competencies.

JCI also provides training in these facets. One of their training programs is providing tools to target one of the goals of JCI which is International Patient Safety.

Two specific competencies required to achieve International Patient Safety Goals is Infection Prevention and Medication Safety. A certification program called Preventing Risks of Infections and Medication Errors in IV Therapy (PRIME) was thus constituted.

Becton, Dickinson and Company (BD) has been roped in as the partner by JCI to device patient safety programmes, conduct training in Hospitals followed by a certification of the process. Hence, this certification is called JCI-PRIME.

Of the many hospital applicants for this training process, PSG Hospitals was one of the few hospitals to be shortlisted for the training on PRIME. The BD team of experts provided training to the healthcare providers of the Hospital, Nurses & Pharmacy Practitioners, in particular.

After the training program, the hospital underwent an online assessment by a team of assessors from the USA on the hospitals’ efficacy in PRIME.

Today (24/8/2021), PSG Hospitals was awarded the JCI-PRIME certification in a function at PSG Hospitals. PSG Hospitals thus became the first hospital in Tamilnadu to receive this certification.

Speaking at the function, Dr J.S. Bhuvaneswaran, Director PSG Superspeciality Hospitals, emphasised the need of this certification and its relevance especially with regards to catering to the growing numbers of international patients seeking our services. He thanked the Management, Quality Team, Nursing team headed by Dr Anuradha and all the support members for their role. He acknowledged the role of BD, India operations represented by Mr. B. Selvakumar for their valuable inputs and training of personnel.

Sri. L. Gopalakrishnan, Managing Trustee of PSG Charities presided over the function and acknowledged all the team members who played their roles towards receiving the JCI prime certification, by distributing certificates and plaques.

Dr. T. M. SubbaRao, Principal of PSGIMSR & Hospitals offered his felicitations and congratulated the team. Dr. P. R. Rajkumar, Medical Director of PSG Hospitals, proposed the vote of thanks.