John R. Sanders, MD
Consultant, Joint Commission Resources, Inc.
Dr. Sanders came to Joint Commission Resources after serving 12 years as vice president of medical staff services for the Greenville Hospital System (GHS), Greenville, South Carolina. During that time, he not only had oversight for credentialing and privileging of more than 1,000 physicians and 500 allied health professionals, but also the risk/quality management functions and systemwide infection control for the 1,100-plus bed system. That system includes four acute care facilities, a psychiatric facility, a long term acute care hospital, a rehabilitation hospital and a large physician network involved in primary and tertiary care. He was also named the initial corporate compliance officer for GHS, where he was responsible for accreditation activities at each facility, and he developed the code of conduct, implemented a hotline and developed associated compliance policies for the institution.
Prior to joining the administrative structure of GHS, Dr. Sanders was in the active private practice of orthopedic surgery for 20 years with a primary interest in pediatric orthopedics and sports medicine. He continues to serve as the medical director for the Furman University Sports Medicine Center, in Greenville, South Carolina.
Dr. Sanders participated with the initial CMS-sponsored Surgical Infection Prevention Collaborative (SIP – now Surgical Care Improvement Project [SCIP]). He subsequently served as clinical champion for the organization’s quality improvement activities with a South Carolina-focused project instrumental in bringing the SIP/SCIP ideas to hospitals. He continues to provide expertise and consultations regarding medical staff involvement and buy-in for other patient safety activities. He also serves on the South Carolina Hospital Association Quality Council, the South Carolina Department of Health and Environmental Control Advisory Committee regarding the Hospital Infection Disclosure Act passed by the South Carolina legislature, and associate medical director for the Carolinas Center for Medical Excellence, the QIO for the state of South Carolina.
Growing up in Mississippi, Dr. Sanders had voiced interest and desire from early elementary school to be a physician. His close exposures with local family physician/surgeon practices provided mentoring to move him forward. For more than 40 years, he has stressed the need for excellence within medicine and constant attention to listening and communicating as the first line of providing safe quality care to all patients. Early exposure to strong educators reinforced his expectation of ongoing learning for all medical care providers.
Dr. Sanders is trained in TeamSTEPPS, which promotes principles of communication among all involved with care activities and strongly believes that this approach brings dividends to safe patient care encounters. He wants all medical staff to understand their expectations as leaders of quality care improvement within their institution and practices. This begins with strong participation and a robust credentialing and privileging process of all practitioners and carries through with inter-disciplinary communication, review and measuring.
Dr. Sanders believes we are all patients, and the future of patient safety begins with the primary education of all within the health care career pipeline to meet and exceed expectations of everyone involved in receiving or providing health care.
Dr. Sanders received his bachelor’s of science from Mississippi State University and his medical degree from Tulane University School of Medicine in New Orleans, Louisiana.