Accreditation in Healthcare: Assessing Quality & Strategic Goals - Essay Sample

Introduction

Accreditation is one of the most frequently used external quality measures and assessment in the healthcare sector or healthcare organization's strategic goals. Primarily, in the accreditation process, the hospital accreditation process is used to determine the level and quality (Zhang et al., 2017). Accreditation programs are mainly the systematic assessment of the hospital against the generally accepted standards and the certification in order to confirm an object, organization, or person against the published standards (Jaafaripooyan et al., 2011). The American College of Surgeons started the hospital accreditation process about 100 years ago, and since then, several programs have been developed. The World Health Organization (WHO) identified about 35 nationwide accreditation programs in 2000 (Avery et al., 2012). Moreover, accreditation is an essential part of the healthcare system in more than 80 nations, and it is used to provide independent and external reviews, audits, or assessment (McPhail et al., 2015). Additionally, the systematic evaluation of health care can be argued as a way of obtaining regulatory peer review on organizational reliability and maturity. Patient-centered care and safety is a crucial component and essential drivers in the healthcare reform.

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Literature Review

Primarily, the methodological challenges that are used for measuring the effects of certification and accreditation are mainly increased by the complexity in the hospital firms and their heterogeneous components (Swathi et al., 2020). Moreover, in most healthcare accreditation programs, it is unclear about the elements that are subjected to assessment (Jeffrey, 2014). For instance, the United Kingdom Medical Research Council (UK MRC) has indicated that it is difficult to identify the active ingredients of some of the complex interventions such as hand washing campaigns or falls preventions (Al Mohammed, 2020). Primarily, these interventions include several separate concurrent and multi-level elements. Importantly, the interventions can also be interpreted in various ways, and they can be used in different settings complicating the evaluation process (Raza, 2019). The comparison between accredited and non-accredited hospitals can yield essential information and data about the potential difference between the institutions (Hydari, Ali, & Bin Dost, 2020). However, they cannot be used to provide information about the variations observed and if the results from the observation can be transferred to other settings.

Accreditation in the healthcare sector is essential as it gives the institution public recognition and achievement for endorsement standards demonstrated by independent external assessment of the firm's level of performance. Accreditation benefits all the stakeholders, including patients and caregivers (Al Kuwaiti, & Al Muhanna, 2019). Primarily, the patients are the primary beneficiaries as it results in improved and quality service and patient safety (Wardhani et al., 2019). Moreover, the individuals providing medical care are accredited people meaning they are qualified (Smits et al., 2014). The rights of the patients are also protected and respected, and patient satisfaction is regularly monitored and evaluated.

Moreover, the staff working in the accredited institution are satisfied as they receive a pleasant working environment, ownership of the clinical processes, leadership, and continuous learning (Almasabi, 2013). Consequently, accreditation of healthcare organizations also stimulates continuous improvement and growth of healthcare firms. Accreditation enables organizations to show their commitment to improved quality care (Untimanon et al., 2019). This raises the community confidence in the services offered by the organization, and it is also an opportunity for other organizations to benchmark from the best. Similarly, accreditation also provides for an objective system that is for empanelment by third parties and insurance (Brubakk et al., 2015). This makes sure that there is certified and reliable information on the organization's level of care and infrastructure.

Additionally, hospital accreditation has a longitudinal impact on organizational culture. It contributes to a shift in staff perception of the firm's culture (Archibald, & Putnam Rankin, 2013). For instance, hierarchical culture declines following hospital accreditation while on the other hand, group culture increased (Gamble et al., 2020). This shift can be attributed to accreditation process which primarily requires procedural and structural changes in order to facilitate performance, safety, and quality improvement (Shrivastava, Shrivastava, & Ramasamy, 2015). Consequently, the employee's initial optimism for the accreditation process is also an important and leading cultural change through the adoption of quality practices and novel administrative procedures.

Moreover, some of the health care facilities have a unique organizational culture that can be difficult to change or modify (Agustine, & Pujiyanto 2019). Importantly, the existence of multiple subcultures embedded and fully formed in routines and organizational structures. This has a clear occupational boundary, which is often cited as the main impediment to having a successful organizational culture change.

Accreditation in the healthcare sector is an essential process as it enables people and other interested parties to identify institutions that have the required facilities, qualified staff, and equipment to offer the best services and quality patient care. The accreditation process has several benefits to the organization, staff members, and the patients. However, the patients are the biggest beneficiaries as they will receive quality and better healthcare services. The staff members will benefit from the continuous training and leadership process. The organization will benefit from confidence from the community and the chance to improve its services.

Consequently, the assessment process ensures that the facility is well equipped to serve its community. The main challenge in the accreditation process is to identify the issues that are to be represented or included. The process is mainly interested in making sure that the patient's safety and care are at the highest level possible.

Relationship Between Patient Safety and Hospital Accreditation

Ensuring high quality and patient safety is an essential component of better performing healthcare systems (Almasabi, 2013). Access to healthcare is not adequate, and patients are looking for facilities, whether it is a hospital or a clinic, they are confident they will receive consistent, effective, and safe clinical evidence (Raza, 2019). Therefore, quality care is the optimal requirement regardless of the facility. Accreditation is crucial in ensuring high-quality care and patient safety (Almasabi, 2013). In some nation’s healthcare facilities are required to pass a certain test so that they can receive government support (Almasabi, 2013). For instance, in the United States, healthcare organizations are required to be accredited in order for them to receive Medicare.

For a hospital to accredited, there are some requirements it needs to meet (Agustine, & Pujiyanto 2019). Some of the section that the programs look at includes a statement of objective, goals, and purpose, organization and administration, human and physical resources, orientation, staff development, and continuing education, patient care, and quality assurance (Al Mohammed, 2020). All these sections are created to ensure that when the facility is accredited, the patient is safe and quality service is guaranteed (Al Kuwaiti, & Al Muhanna, 2019). Therefore, it is important to state that hospital accreditation is mainly concerned with patient safety. Moreover, facilities that cannot guarantee patient safety are not accredited.

High-quality care in healthcare facilities results in reduced errors and less harm. Primarily, quality improvement and patient safety aim at shifting the entire safety and quality curve to the right (Agustine, & Pujiyanto 2019). Patient safety improvement is primarily focused on truncating and lowering the lower tail of quality distribution (Al Mohammed, 2020). Both the quality and safety improvements are required, and they play a crucial role in improving the safety of the patients, although their focus is different (Almasabi, 2013). Moreover, accreditation has been seen as a more effective way of promoting good and better safety practices (Almasabi, 2013). Primarily, in most healthcare facilities, accreditation requirements are the main drivers of safety efforts.

Accreditation had played a crucial role in improving patient safety (Agustine, & Pujiyanto 2019). For a hospital to receive accreditation, there are some set standards that it needs to meet for safety. The main aim of this is to ensure that the patient is safe at the institution (Agustine, & Pujiyanto 2019). Primarily, data indicate that 1 in 10 patients are harmed while receiving hospital care due to adverse events and errors (Avery et al., 2012). Safety is a big component in healthcare, and it involves having well-trained staff, the right equipment, clean facilities, and well-developed systems and structures to facilitates delivering quality care to the patients (Raza, 2019). When a healthcare facility meets all the required safety requirement, it is given accreditation improving its service delivery in the community.

Therefore, patient safety is an important component of healthcare accreditation across the globe (Agustine, & Pujiyanto 2019). For any healthcare facility to be given accreditation, it needs to pass some set test to ensure that the hospital has the right equipment and staff with the right skills to guarantee patient safety within the hospital (Al Kuwaiti, & Al Muhanna, 2019). Moreover, application of accreditation has indicated that it has contributed to a reduction of medical errors and improvement of patient safety by raising the standard of quality.

References

Agustine, E. D., & Pujiyanto. (2019). Health Professional’s Perception toward Impact of Hospital Accreditation on Quality of Care in Asia: A Systematic Review. Indian Journal of Public Health Research & Development, 10(3), 929. http://search.ebscohost.com.proxygsu-gamc.galileo.usg.edu/login.aspx?direct=true&db=edb&AN=135574935&site=eds-live&scope=site

Al Kuwaiti, A., & Al Muhanna, F. A. (2019). Challenges facing healthcare leadership in attaining accreditation of teaching hospitals. Leadership in Health Services (1751-1879), 32(2), 170. http://search.ebscohost.com.proxygsu-gamc.galileo.usg.edu/login.aspx?direct=true&db=edb&AN=135722366&site=eds-live&scope=site

Al Mohammed, G. A. (2020). Perceptions of Governance of Hospital Quality of Care and Accreditation in the United Arab Emirates: A Qualitative Study. Journal of Health Informatics in Developing Countries, 14(1), 1. http://search.ebscohost.com.proxygsu-gamc.galileo.usg.edu/login.aspx?direct=true&db=edb&AN=141991472&site=eds-live&scope=site

Almasabi, M. H. (2013). An overview of quality and accreditation in the health sector within Saudi Arabia. International Journal of Health Research and Innovation, 1(3), 1-5. https://www.researchgate.net/publication/301545802_An_Overview_of_Quality_and_Accreditation_in_the_Health_Sector_within_Saudi_Arabia

Archibald, M., & Putnam Rankin, C. (2013). Community Context and Healthcare Quality: The Impact of Community Resources on Licensing and Accreditation of Substance Abuse Treatment Agencies. Journal of Behavioral Health Services & Research, 40(4), 442–456. http...