attitude of health care professionals towards accreditation: a systematic review of the literature

Accreditation is usually a voluntary program, in which authorized external peer reviewers evaluate the compliance of a health care organization with pre-established performance standards. The aim of this study was to systematically review the literature of the attitude of health care professionals towards professional accreditation. A systematic search of four databases including Medline, Embase, Healthstar, and Cinhal presented seventeen studies that had evaluated the attitudes of health care professionals towards accreditation. Health care professionals had a skeptical attitude towards accreditation. Owners of hospitals indicated that accreditation had the potential of being used as a marketing tool. Health care professionals viewed accreditation programs as bureaucratic and demanding. There was consistent concern, especially in developing countries, about the cost of accreditation programs and their impact on the quality of health care services

Impact of accreditation on the quality of healthcare services: a systematic review of the literature

Accreditation is usually a voluntary program in which trained external peer reviewers evaluate a healthcare organization's compliance and compare it with pre-established performance standards. The aim of this study was to evaluate the impact of accreditation programs on the quality of healthcare services. We did a systematic review of the literature to evaluate the impact of accreditation programs on the quality of healthcare services. Several databases were systematically searched, including Medline, Embase, Healthstar, and Cinhal. Twenty-six studies evaluating the impact of accreditation were identified. The majority of the studies showed general accreditation for acute myocardial infarction [AMI], trauma, ambulatory surgical care, infection control and pain management; and subspecialty accreditation programs to significantly improve the process of care provided by healthcare services by improving the structure and organization of healthcare facilities. Several studies showed that general accreditation programs significantly improve clinical outcomes and the quality of care of these clinical conditions and showed a significant positive impact of subspecialty accreditation programs in improving clinical outcomes in different subspecialties, including sleep medicine, chest pain management and trauma management. There is consistent evidence that shows that accreditation programs improve the process of care provided by healthcare services. There is considerable evidence to show that accreditation programs improve clinical outcomes of a wide spectrum of clinical conditions. Accreditation programs should be supported as a tool to improve the quality of healthcare services

Assessment of the accreditation standards of the central board for accreditation of healthcare institutions in Saudi Arabia against the principles of the international society for quality in health care [ISQua]

Accreditation is usually a voluntary program, in which trained external peer reviewers evaluate health care organization's compliance with pre-established performance standards. Interest in accreditation is growing in developing countries, but there is little published information on the challenges faced by new programs. In Saudi Arabia, the Central Board for Accreditation of Healthcare Institutions [CBAHI] was established to formulate and implement quality standards in all health sectors across the country. The objective of this study was to assess a developing accreditation program [CBAHI standards] against the International Society for Quality in Health Care [ISQua] principles to identify opportunities for improvement of the CBAHI standards. A qualitative appraisal and assessment of CBAHI standards was conducted using the published ISQua principles for accreditation standards. The CBAHI standards did not describe the process of development, evaluation or revision of the standards. Several standards are repetitive and ambiguous. CBAHI standards lack measurable elements for each standard. CBAHI standards met only one criterion [11.1%] of the Quality Improvement principle, two criteria [22.2%] of Patient/Service User Focus principle, four criteria [40%] of the Organizational Planning and Performance principle, the majority [70%] of the criteria for the safety principle, only one criteria [7.1%] for the Standards Development principle, and two criteria [50%] of the Standards Measurement principle. CBAHI standards need significant modifications to meet ISQua principles. New and developing accreditation programs should be encouraged to publish and share their experience in order to promote learning and improvement of local accreditation programs worldwide