Accreditation
It is very important for hospitals and other health care agencies to have accreditation because this serves as a standardization process that ensures that every agency or facility is able to produce the kind of quality care results expected of them by the general public. The advantage of accreditation is that it protects both health care professionals and patients from practitioners who are not qualified to provide quality care. The disadvantages are that it can be a time-consuming process and a costly one.
Accreditation impacts patients and health care professionals by ensuring a safe and effective environment is pursuable by the facility or organization operating in the industry providing health care services. As Kiss, Kotsis & Kun (2014) point out, successful application of health care services requires professionals to be well-educated and trained; and patient satisfaction depends on professionals providing the care that is expected of them. If professionals are not trained according to a universally recognized set of standards, then they are not likely to have all the competencies needed in order to provide quality care for patients. Patient satisfaction will be low and job satisfaction for care providers will be low as well. Accreditation helps to ensure that the process of providing care is adequate and effective.
Some of the outcomes that can result if a healthcare facility does not follow through with the proper accreditation process are that its human services in general may suffer. It will not be able to show patients that it is qualified according to recognized standards to treat them. There will be lost confidence and the facility’s approach to human services will be suspect. Its reputation will diminish and it will very likely go out of business as a result. This is why it is so important for health care facilities to really and truly obtain their accreditation. They must be able to show their clients that they are capable of doing the work expected of them.
References
Kiss, M., Kotsis, A., Kun, A. (2014). The relationship between intelligence, emotional intelligence, personality styles and academic success. Business Education & Accreditation, 6(2): 23-34.
