Beginning January 1, 2006, the Joint Commission on Accreditation of Healthcare Organizations (JCAHO) moved away from its longstanding program of triennial surveys to a policy of unannounced visits. This new policy not only forces healthcare institutions to maintain continuous compliance with all JCAHO standards, but also to keep all supporting documentation and policies up-to-date. Moreover, staff education must be ongoing, with updates at frequent intervals as standards are added or modified. Management of the Environment of Care (EC) is especially impacted by this change because of the variety of disciplines it covers