One way to improve the quality of hospital services is accreditation and, as a strategy for improving services, many countries have launched their national accreditation system (1, 2). Accreditation, as an independent voluntary program, was established in 1917 in the United States by the Joint Commission on Accreditation of Healthcare Organizations (JCAHO) for evaluating hospitals. In 1998, its...

There is a widespread and increasing tendency to develop hospital performance indicators in the field of accreditation/certification system and quality benchmarking. The aim of this study was to identify the relationship between accreditation and quality indicators used in hospital care services. A systematic review of literature was carried out. The search used the data base of MEDLINE in the ...

Limited evidence exists on whether government owned-and-funded hospital accreditation system brings long-lasting impact in terms of continuous quality improvement to patient care. Literature shows that hospitals might adopt opportunistic behaviors solely with the aim of gaining accreditation particularly when governments link the quality improvement objective of accreditation with payment mecha...

Benefits derived from the Council for Health Services Accreditation South Africa (COHSASA) accreditation of the Universitas Academic Hospital (UAH) in Bloemfontein are illustrated. Accreditation assessments were performed between 2001 and 2007, and full compliance with the COHSASA standards for Academic Hospitals was achieved. An initiative to develop thoracic surgery in central South Africa (S...

Background and objectives: Accreditation is a widely used mechanism to keep organization adherent to the established standards. The aim of the study was to identify barriers towards promotion of accreditation in the Iranian hospitals, and exploring the potential overcoming strategies.   Methods: A qualitative study design was adopted. Data were collected using a questionnaire with open questi...

Hospital accreditation is a new concept for Hong Kong Hospital Authority hospitals. Queen Mary Hospital has been engaged as one of the hospitals in a territory-wide Pilot Scheme of Hospital Accreditation. In preparation for accreditation, Queen Mary Hospital has undergone the process of self-assessment, staff engagement, and service improvements which all require well-planned strategies to achi...

Objective: To learn the perceptions of hospital quality managers about the benefits and difficulties that arise from accreditation. Methods: A descriptive, qualitative and exploratory study was developed with five quality managers from hospitals of each of the three levels of national accreditation and one which lost its accreditation. Taped interviews were carried out with the participants, wh...