Effect of Health Care Accreditation Council survey site visit on perceived stress level among Jordanian healthcare providers.

AIM

To assess perceived stress levels among healthcare providers in public and private hospitals before and after Health Care Accreditation Council (HCAC) survey site visits.

METHODS

A cross-sectional, descriptive design was used in this study. A convenience sampling technique was used to recruit study participants. A self-administered questionnaire (PSS-10) was used to collect data. Descriptive statistics, dependent sample t test, independent sample t test, and multiple linear regression analysis were used to analyze data.

RESULT

The results showed that stress levels were higher before a HCAC survey site visit (M = 18.39, SD = 4.3) than after ( M = 14.09, SD = 6.1) ( t(210) = 8.7, P ≤ 0.000) among healthcare providers. Between hospitals, the perceived stress level of healthcare providers was higher in the public hospital ( M = 19.03, SD = 4.3) compared with the private hospital ( M = 17.8, SD = 4.2) ( t(209) = 2.16, P = 0.031) before the HCAC survey site visit. In contrast, there were no differences in perceived stress level for the public and private hospitals ( t(209) = 0.001, P = 0.999) after the HCAC survey site visit. Finally, the type of hospital was the only sociodemographic characteristic that predicted the perceived stress level before the HCAC survey site visit ( β = -0.157, P = 0.040). In contrast, there were no sociodemographic characteristics that predicted the perceived stress level after the HCAC survey site visit.

CONCLUSIONS

The current study indicated that hospital accreditation is a process associated with significant stress (P = 0.000) among healthcare providers in both hospitals before and after an HCAC survey site visit. Moreover, there was a significant level of stress before an HCAC survey site visit in the public hospital ( M = 19.03) compared with the private hospital ( M = 17.8, P = 0.031).