CAP Checklists

With laboratory accreditation inspections becoming increasingly frequent, and with inspections often unannounced, healthcare organisations need to find efficient ways of managing laboratory quality management. One of the first steps is to identify the correct or most current set of standards or criteria that your healthcare institution will be evaluated against. CAP checklists, for example can have 2 copies in circulation at one time- the most current copy and the copy which was mailed to the institute to be inspected against.

iPassport QMS allows laboratories to manage CAP checklists within the system, so that these checklists can be broken into manageable tasks and subjects. These checklist items become manageable as they are completely searchable; tasks can be added to the CAP checklist questions in order to ensure all relevant personnel in the healthcare organisation contribute to the quality management process. A complete history and change log is available on each checklist item, allowing all users involved with the applicable question to document any work they have done towards the CAP checklist question. Relevant documentation can then be linked to the correct CAP question which can then be marked as compliant or with ‘Yes’ status. In addition, laboratories within an organisation or hospital can share checklists if they are working towards accreditation together, to the Laboratory General Checklist, for example.

Alternatively, system administrators can also restrict access so that the laboratory can only see the relevant checklist to work towards. Quality managers across an organisation can then monitor compliance as whole, referencing several CAP Checklists electronically and viewing all relevant documentation and outstanding tasks in one system. The iPassport QMS system also allows the laboratory to have complete document control, allowing only users with appropriate permissions to see draft documents, and also has a pin and signature facility providing enhanced document authorisation security for all documentation. This document control facility allows laboratories to streamline their document management procedures, keep all staff up to date and ensure that they are compliant with document control requirements by all accreditation bodies, including CAP, CLIA, JCAHO, ISO.

* Permission from CAP is needed prior to the checklists being loaded on the system.