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Certification for Hospitals |
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Why Indian Hospitals should get Accreditation or Certification for patient-care ?
Definition
Certification as complying with a set of standards by non-governmental organizations, applied for by institutions, programs, and facilities on a voluntary basis.
Joint Commission on Accreditation of Hospitals
A private, voluntary, not-for-profit global organization, which establishes standards for the operation of health facilities and services, conducts surveys, and awards accreditation.
The Joint Commission is an independent, not-for-profit organization, established more than 50 years ago. Joint Commission is governed by a board that includes physicians, nurses, and consumers. Joint Commission sets the standards by which health care quality is measured in America and around the world.
One way to evaluate the quality of a hospital is to ask about accreditation. Joint Commission evaluates the quality and safety of care for more than 15,000 health care organizations worldwide. To maintain and earn accreditation, organizations must have an extensive on-site review by a team of Joint Commission health care professionals, at least once every three years. The purpose of the review is to evaluate the organization's performance in areas that affect your care. Accreditation may then be awarded based on how well the organizations meet Joint Commission standards.
Joint Commission accreditation involves evaluating a health care organization's performance in areas that directly affect patient health and safety. These areas are defined in Joint Commission standards. By achieving accreditation, a health care organization makes a commitment to follow Joint Commission standards, which provide the framework for safe, quality care.
How does the accreditation process work?
To earn and maintain accreditation, a hospital must undergo an on-site survey by a Joint Commission survey team at least every three years. The objective of the survey is not only to evaluate the hospital, but also to provide education and guidance that will help the staff continue to improve the hospital's performance.
The Team
Survey teams usually include three health care professionals--a physician, a nurse and a hospital administrator--who have senior management level experience in health care organizations. Depending on the volume and range of services offered by the hospital, additional surveyors with particular expertise may be added to the team. The surveyors are selected from the Joint Commission's cadre of over 500 surveyors. All Joint Commission surveyors are extensively trained before they are sent into the field, and all receive continuing education to keep them up-to-date on advances in quality-related performance evaluation.
The Survey
The survey team spends several days at the hospital observing activities, interviewing patients and staff, and reviewing patient medical records. The team spends a significant amount of time on patient units, observing care as it is carried out. The team may track a patient through his or her hospital stay--in person and through medical records--to find out how the hospital's systems and processes work in supporting patient care. They determine what activities are carried out, how well they are performed and, where possible, the resulting effects or outcomes for patients of various types. The surveyors use scoring guidelines to assist them in making judgments about standards compliance in specific performance areas.
The Evaluation
Different members of the survey team may look at specific areas or departments of the hospital, according to their expertise. But they work together closely at every step, integrating their findings to reach conclusions about hospital wide performance.
At the end of the survey, the team scores the hospital on how well it meets the standards in the Accreditation Manual for Hospitals. Related standards are grouped into performance areas, each of which is scored. Finally, the performance area scores are combined to produce the hospital's overall score. After receiving accreditation, the hospital is required to remain in compliance with all standards during its three-year accreditation cycle.
Shroff Eye Hospital was surveyed on the 15th of February 2006 and received its JCI accreditation on the 11th of April 2006. We are proud to state that this accreditation was granted to us at the very first attempt, making it the first eye hospital in the country to have received this esteemed certification.
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| © Shroff Eye Hospital, Mumbai, India |
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