Dubai Health Authority, Dubai, United Arab Emirates.
Mohammed Bin Rashid School of Government, Dubai, United Arab Emirates.
Inquiry. 2021 Jan-Dec;58:46958020981463. doi: 10.1177/0046958020981463.
There are several hospital accreditors globally but there is limited understanding of how accreditation impacts on hospital performance and the health system objectives. The objective of the study were to explore the impact of hospital accreditation and inform policy decision-making. We adopted a mixed-methods approach to include an online survey and 3 focus groups. We report 27 of 36 private hospitals who responded to the survey. Key reasons for accreditation were to improve quality ( = 23), implement evidence-based practice ( = 17), continuity of accreditation ( = 15), and popularity ( = 11). Reported improvements include quality of care (27), patient care (26), organizational processes (21), and patient satisfaction (19) among others. Average stakeholder satisfaction rate was 74%. Participants from the 3 focus group discussions felt that staff hours and stress levels were high during the accreditation process, and some standards were useful while others were deemed non-essential. There was support for a local accreditation body with an emphasis on best practice. The findings from the study suggest accreditation to have an impact on structure and process measures, but the gains in key areas were short-lived. There is a need to strengthen governance and develop performance measures to evidence outcome improvement, assure alignment with regulation and the health system objectives.
全球有几家医院认证机构，但对认证如何影响医院绩效和卫生系统目标的理解有限。本研究的目的是探讨医院认证的影响，并为政策决策提供信息。我们采用混合方法，包括在线调查和 3 个焦点小组。我们报告了对调查做出回应的 36 家私立医院中的 27 家。认证的主要原因是提高质量（=23）、实施基于证据的实践（=17）、连续性认证（=15）和普及（=11）。报告的改进包括提高护理质量（27）、患者护理（26）、组织流程（21）和患者满意度（19）等。利益相关者的平均满意度为 74%。来自 3 个焦点小组讨论的参与者认为，在认证过程中，员工的工作时间和压力水平都很高，有些标准是有用的，而有些则被认为是不必要的。人们支持建立一个注重最佳实践的本地认证机构。研究结果表明，认证对结构和流程措施有影响，但在关键领域的收益是短暂的。有必要加强治理并制定绩效措施，以证明结果的改善，确保与法规和卫生系统目标保持一致。
