Department Survey Tracer Preparation

Department Survey Tracer Preparation

The tracking of care a patient experiences throughout a healthcare organization is termed tracer methodology. The use of tracer activities is a process that allows surveyors to access a specific patient, and the care and services that patient is receiving and has received, in relation to the patient care processes and systems that the organization has in place. The survey process consists of the surveyors performing tracer activities, with documentation review occurring on an as requested basis by the surveyor throughout the survey.

What this means is that a patient is selected by the surveyor, and the patient's medical record is reviewed. The surveyor then traces the patient's course of care throughout his/her hospitalization, following a road map of the continuum of care provided to the patient. This ultimately allows for a systems approach to evaluation that traces patients through the organization as they receive care, treatment and services.