The health sector is a susceptible area based on the nature of work involved and how it operates. Human life is sacred, and the health sector is majorly concerned with how human life can be preserved. Based on the sensitive nature of the health sector, measures must be put in place that ensures procedures and services are offered in the best way possible. Accreditation can be employed in ensuring that services and products from a health facility are of the required quality. According to Alkhenzin and Shaw (2011), accreditation refers to a voluntary process in which trained peer reviewers are tasked with the mandate of evaluating the compliance of a health facility to a set of predefined standards. The standards are majorly performances standards. …show more content…
Several benefits can be experienced as a result of accreditation that can help a health facility to develop and improve regarding service delivery. The following benefits can be realized from the accreditation process (Owens & Koch, 2015). Patient Assurance: Patient often has confidence in health organizations that have been accredited by reputable bodies. When patients are seeking treatment, they will always opt for the best hospitals in place. The best way they will be able to determine the quality of services offered at a facility is through checking the accreditation that the organization has received. Improved communication: The accreditation process requires health practitioners to meet certain standards in communication with patients and fellow staff (Owens et al., 2015). Accreditation ensures that communications are conducted in the right way and through the proper channels. Improved advocacy for patients and families: Accreditation programs emphasize on the provision of personalized care to patients, and this helps in improving the treatment that patients receive while in hospitals. Patients and families are also assured of getting value for their money since they are provided with a care that is desirable.
A powerful speech given by Don Berwick on December 2004 explains ways in which healthcare industries needs to implement in order to save lives and to reduce the mortality death rates that occur in the healthcare (i.e. no needless death). In his speech entitled “Some Is Not A Number…. Soon Is Not A Time” invites all healthcare care organization U.S. and the world to come together to save 100,000 lives by June 14th 2006 at 9am exactly 18 months from the day of the speech. In order to achieve this goal Dr. Berwick suggests there should be a high standards protocol that will help improve care and reduce patients harm.
State and federal regulations, national accreditation standards, and clinical practice standards are created, and updated regularly. In addition, to these regulations, OIG publishes a compliance work plan annually that focuses on protecting the integrity of the program, and prevention of fraud and abuse. The Office of the Inspector General examines quality‐of‐care issues in nursing facilities, organizations, community‐based settings and occurrences in which the programs may have been billed for medically unnecessary services. The Office of the Inspector General’s work plan for the fiscal year 2011 highlights five areas of investigation for acute care hospitals. Reliability of hospital-reported quality measure data, hospital readmissions, hospital admissions with conditions
In the twentieth century the medical field has seen many changes. One way that hospitals and nursing specifically has changed and implemented the changes is by pursuing accreditations, awards, and recognitions. The purpose of this paper is to understand Magnet Status and the change required by hospitals to achieve it.
Government has developed ‘Star Ratings’ system which monitors improvements in accountability measures. The experience of the ‘Star Ratings’ system in respect of service efficiency indicates that it is prudent to act pro-actively rather than re-actively. It is vital to consider that the Government is expecting demonstrable improvements in health services rather than rhetoric alone (Radnor and Lovell, 2003).
Branding the health care facility as high technology with compassionate staff will benefit the health system in establishing relationships with the consumers and eventually loyalty (McPherson 2008). Huntsville Hospital Health System strategically branded the providers and facilities as top in the country with various modes of certification and accreditation such as Blue Distinction, Top 100 in Spine Surgery, Top 100 Best Places to Work, Advanced Technologies, and Joint Commission Accreditation. All these brandings assist our system to promote the caring, safe environment to enjoy in the wellness programs or when healthcare is necessary (Ingram
Merwin, E & Thornlow, D. (2009). Managing to improve quality: the relationship between accreditation standards, safety practices, and patient outcomes. Health Care Managment Review, 34(3), 262-272. DOI: 10.1097/HMR.0b013e3181a16bce
The purpose of this paper is to identify a quality safety issue. I will summarize the impact that this issue has on health care delivery. In addition, I will identify quality improvement strategies. Finally, I will share a plan to effectively implement this quality improvement strategy.
Conditions of Participation was created to ensure all facilities participating in Medicare follow a set of regulations that protect the safety of Medicare recipients. In 1986 revisions were made to reinforce accreditation and certification procedures. Participating hospitals that are accredited by the Joint Commission on Accreditation of Healthcare Organizations or American Osteopathic Association have been deemed to meeting Conditions of Participation requirements on the wellbeing of Medicare Recipients. The Joint Commission on Accreditation of Healthcare Organizations also requires that the facilities are licensed by their state. (Lohr, 1990, p.
Communication is cited as a contributing factor in 70% of healthcare mistakes, leading to many initiatives across the healthcare settings to improve the way healthcare professionals communicate. (Kohn, 2000.)
Communication encompasses a wide range of processes such as the exchange of information, listening, posing of questions (Fleischer et al., 2009) or use of body language. In a healthcare environment where there are constant interactions among nurses, doctors, patients and other health professionals, professional and effective communication is important in ensuring high quality healthcare standards and meeting the individual needs of patients.
The standards of the Joint Commission are a foundation for an objective evaluation process the may help healthcare organizations measure, assess and improve performance. These standards are focused on organizational functions that are key for providing safe high quality care services. The Joint Commission’s standards set goal expectations of reasonable, achievable and surveyable performance of an organization. Only new standards that are relative to patient safety or care quality, have positive impact on healthcare outcomes, and can be accurately measured are added. Input from healthcare professionals, providers, experts, consumers and government agencies develop these standards.
...n of Healthcare Organizations (JCAHO), and the American Medical Accreditation Program (AMAP), just to name a couple. Each of the accrediting bodies is unique in terms of their mission, activities, compositions of their boards, and organizational histories, and each develops their own accreditation process and programs and sets their own accreditation standards. . "Accreditation of a health care facility or program is a symbol of quality, similar to the Good Housekeeping Seal of Approval that indicates to the public that the organization or program has met certain standards." (Goode, 2001) The accreditation proves that healthcare facility underwent the accreditation process and met all of the necessary requirements to become qualified. Accreditation has been generally viewed as a desirable process to establish standards and work toward achieving higher quality care.
The first nurse to introduce quality improvement was Florence Nightingale, who through gathering data on the positive effects of keeping adequate hygiene, nutrition and proper ventilation on the mortality rate during the Crimean War (Hood, 2014, p. 490-491). The initiatives towards improvement of quality lead to formation the Joint Commission on Accreditation of Hospitals (JCAH), which is now known as The Joint Commission (2007). The Joint Commission is non-profit organization which gives accreditation to hospitals for recognizing their efforts to deliver quality health care with an added advantage of being eligible for the Medicare reimbursement program. Moreover, the Joint Commission also rolled out the Hospital Patient Safety Goals (2013) to prevent patient safety errors. Nursing professionals are essential for health care organizations to achieve and maintain the patient-safety goals as their work directly impacts the quality and safety of the patients. For instance, using two patient identifiers during medication administration to avert errors. Nurses have the distinct skills and responsibility towards patient safety and hence the need for Quality and Safety Education for Nurses (QSEN) is the rational step towards quality improvement. Through the years, the QSEN has developed in Phases to ascertain the areas of competency requirements for nurses to deliver safe, efficient and excellent health care
Outstanding healthcare facilities try to compensate patients for economic and non-economic losses. They ensure the patients have their time and concerns addressed. They make sure that the patient experience makes them feel good.
It encourages and enforces improvement in the quality and reliability of laboratories. Accreditation provides implementing and monitoring a comprehensive laboratory management system.3,8 It provides verification that laboratories are adhering to established quality and competence standards necessary for reliable patient testing and the safety of staff and the environment.9 Accreditation provides a mechanism by which patient, health care organization and governments can measure the performance of laboratories against international standards.10 Test reports generated in accredited laboratories are accepted all over the world and the laboratories are recognized for superior test reliability, operational performance, quality management and