Office of Patient Safety, Accreditation & Regulatory Services
Tribute to our Nurse Mock Surveyors

At the Corporate level, Dominic Marino participates with the Office of Patient Safety, Accreditation and Regulatory Services in the mock JCAHO survey process. Mock surveyors volunteer their time and services and receive regular training to enable them to help their sister facilities assess readiness for a JCAHO survey. We are extremely grateful to Dominic for his unfailing support of our JCAHO readiness activities and for their commitment to quality and patient safety.

Dominic Marino, RN has been a member of the mock survey team since 1999 – prior to JCAHO’s implementation of the national patient safety goals and tracer methodology. His easy going temperament and sense of humor enabled Dominic to quickly adjust his survey style to accommodate JCAHO’s new processes. Dominic is one of a very small cadre of HHC staff who we can call upon to assist in surveys of HHC’s inpatient and outpatient behavioral health areas. His clinical expertise, background in performance improvement and excellent interpersonal skills make him a terrific mock surveyor. He is one of only 2 RNs with behavioral health expertise on our mock survey team and, therefore, in high demand. Dominic is thorough and conscientious when conducting surveys and always a team player. We do not recall the route Dominic took on his road to becoming a mock surveyor, but we are certainly happy he found us. It is a real pleasure to have Dominic Marino on our team.

Dominic Marino is the Performance Improvement Coordinator and Risk Manager for the Department of Psychiatry at Elmhurst Hospital. Mr. Marino oversees the performance improvement projects of the Department as well as investigating, reporting, and insuring data collection related to occurrences and incidents for the Department. In addition to these formal roles, Mr. Marino is responsible for coordinating and assisting the Department in preparing for JCAHO and other regulatory surveys. Mr. Marino has also been an active participant in HHC’s mock survey process. Mr. Marino currently is the chair of one of Elmhurst Hospital’s function teams in preparation for continuous JCAHO readiness.

Dominic is always ready to "pitch in." As a strong believer in process, he is interested in having things work well and creating new avenues for communication with staff. He is an excellent teacher, and staff enjoy when Mr. Marino conducts both formal and informal training sessions related to a new documentation system, a new set of forms, or preparing for a survey. He is a key member in the Department’s ongoing educational process for staff. Staff always remarked that they feel very supported as well as having gained new knowledge.

Mr. Marino serves as a lead investigator in our Departmental investigations and has been instrumental in researching; designing and completing root cause analysis for our Department.

Mr. Marino is a dedicated member of the Department of Psychiatry at Elmhurst. His contributions related to performance improvement, risk management, and survey preparation and readiness have been outstanding.