ARLINGTON, VAA new online community has been launched that enables medical technology professionals to interact with each other on Joint Commission (JCAHO) issues and obtain important JCAHO-related guidance documents.

The Association for the Advancement of Medical Instrumentation (AAMI) has created this online community, as part of a continuing effort by AAMIs Technology Management Council (TMC) to provide new resources to biomedical equipment technicians, clinical engineers, and other medical technology professionals.

This e-Communitywhich is a new benefit available to all AAMI memberswill allow members to obtain JCAHO-related news and resources and share experiences and advice with fellow members in a virtual forum setting. Available documents will include JCAHO-related articles originally published in AAMI News and AAMIs journalBiomedical Instrumentation & Technology (BI&T)as well as documents released by JCAHO.


All AAMI members are welcome to join AAMIs JCAHO e-community, and will have the option of receiving e-mail messages as soon as they are posted, daily, weekly, or not at all.

The JCAHO e-Community includes three sections:

* News, which will include breaking news from AAMI publications and JCAHO.
* Online forums, where AAMI members can post questions on a variety of issues ranging from medical equipment planning and surveys to hazard alerts and maintenance strategies.
* A document library, where AAMI members can access archived articles. This area already includes 54 articles on topics ranging from clinical alarms and sentinel events to preventive maintenance inspections and standards.

AAMI members can access the JCAHO e-Community by visiting http://www.aami.org/tmc/access.html. You can also access the JCAHO e-Community by visiting www.aami.org, signing in as a member, and then going to communities.

AAMIs members have made it clear that they want access to JCAHO and JCAHO information, says TMC chair Ray Laxton. The TMC is proud to have championed this valuable new online community.
Matthew Baretich, PhD, president of Baretich Engineering, Inc., and moderator of the new JCAHO e-Community, see limitless potential in the project.

As healthcare technology professionals discover the community, I expect it to really take off, says Baretich. The initial response to the concept has been phenomenal.

The new e-Community is part of the TMCs continuing effort to strengthen AAMI members access to JCAHO.

In 2005, AAMI and the TMC launched a new column and its journal, BI&T, focusing on JCAHO issues. Over the last year, AAMI has also collaborated with JCAHO to develop a new Q&A column featuring questions from AAMI members and responses from JCAHO officials. JCAHO now publishes the column in its Environment of Care News, while AAMI publishes the questions and answers in BI&T and at the new JCAHO e-Community.

In June, AAMI offered a new TMC-sponsored JCAHO Q&A session at the AAMI Annual Conference, featuring George Mills, senior engineer of the Joint Commissions Standards Interpretation Group.

For more information about the TMC, visit www.aami.org/tmc.

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