Short Communication Open Access

Impact of healthcare accreditation on quality of care

Abstract

Accreditation is a process in which an entity separate from the healthcare organization, assesses and evalu­ate a healthcare organization’s compliance, and compare it with pre- established performance standards to determine if it meets a set of requirements or standards designed to improve quality of care. These days there are number of national accreditation programs such as ISO /EFQM/PEER REVEIW /JCI Joint Commission Inter­national CBAHI (Central Board of Accreditation in Health Care Institutions/ Saudi Arabia). However they all have varies common aspect such like leadership, documentation etc. JCI accreditation is the most sought after ac­creditation due to the thoroughness of its processes that covers everything from patient entry to discharge and asses all aspects of management, to meet the standards. The goal of the accreditation process is to accurately assess their level of performance in relation to established standards and to implement ways to continuously improve design as an opportunity for developing and improving the critical thinking capacity of the subjects involved. However going through the accreditation process helps streamline operations, improve the quality of care, and build trust with patients and the community. While some of these programs traditionally points on the clinical aspects of care, the new set of standard focus for the entire organization which means a visible commitment to advance the quality of patient care, to ensure safe environment, to continually work to reduce risks to patients and staff, and to achieve the highest standards of care. Globally the analysis of the application and implementation reveals a complex picture, on one hand there is consistent evidence shows that hospi­tal accreditation has positive impact in improving the quality of services provided in the hospitals, evidence illustrate that accreditation programs improve clinical outcomes of a wide spectrum of clinical conditions, it promotes revolutionary changes and professional development, professions’ attitudes towards accreditation, quality measures and program assessment. It also upgrades the infrastructure of the organization. On the other hand, inconsistent findings were identified in many aspects such as the consumer views or patient satisfaction, public disclosure, although the hospitals had been certified this did not reflect in increasing the number of cus­tomer nor their satisfaction and in the financial aspect significantly as well. Furthermore accreditation focuses on a different aspect of the subject [structure/ process/ outcome] ISO for example concentrate on the structure elements which may improve quality but to some extent. JCI focuses more on the process, the outcome is mostly overlooked. It was observed that hospital accreditation is influenced by leadership commitment, train­ing programs related to quality, the level of motivation and involvement of worker significantly influences the working context of health care professionals. Finally it will depend on the vision of a healthcare institution to look at the accreditation as certificate and better reputation or see accreditation as process to help streamline operations, upgrade the quality of care, and build trust with patients and the community. The aim of this paper is to evaluate the impact of accreditation programs on the quality of healthcare services and put the focuses in the implementation and in the applications.

Musfer Al Shalawi