Hospital Standard of Care Discussed
Podcasts > The Heart of Innovation with Kym McNicholas
Saturday, October 10, 2026
What does "standard hospital care" actually mean? What rights do you have as a patient? And what should you know before you or someone you love is discharged or transferred from a hospital?
I'm joined by Gayle Nash, President and CEO of Nash Healthcare Consulting, to take us behind the scenes of the hospital system and explain things most patients and families are never taught.
Gayle brings decades of experience in healthcare. She began her career as a nurse, went on to serve in hospital leadership as a Chief Nursing Officer and Chief Quality Officer, spent 13 years as a Joint Commission nurse surveyor, and has experience surveying for CMS. Today, she works with hospitals and healthcare organizations preparing for accreditation surveys.
We talk about:
• What hospital accreditation actually means • What The Joint Commission Gold Seal does and does not tell you • How accreditation relates to Medicare requirements • What surveyors look at inside a hospital • What "standard of care" means from a hospital quality and compliance perspective • Patient rights inside the hospital • Healthcare Power of Attorney, advance directives, living wills and POLST/MOST forms • What patients and families should understand about discharge planning • Transfers to skilled nursing, rehabilitation, hospice, nursing homes or home • What to do when you don't believe a discharge or transfer plan is safe • Who to talk to inside the hospital when you have concerns • Patient Relations, Quality, Risk Management, case management and ethics • What patients and caregivers can do before a problem happens
Gayle also shares experiences from her years in nursing and hospital quality that help connect all of those rules and regulations back to the person who matters most: the patient.
My goal with this conversation is simple. I want patients and families to better understand how hospitals work, what questions they can ask, and how to advocate for themselves when they're making difficult decisions.
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Subscribe to @TheWayToMyHeart for more conversations focused on helping patients become better informed and better advocates for their care.
#PatientRights #HospitalCare #PatientAdvocacy #HospitalDischarge #Healthcare #Medicare #JointCommission #AdvanceDirective #PowerOfAttorney #PatientSafety
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