In a world where data fluctuates between showing the impact of accreditation on healthcare institutions and negating it, we, at quality, were intrigued to look into whether accredited healthcare institutions were more ready to deal with the requirements of COVID-19 or not?

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Accreditation Readiness and Challenges During
COVID-19 ERA:
By Dr.Mahboob ali khan
My Hand Painting of the Front line Warriors facing COVID-19-April
2020

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In a world where data fluctuates between showing the impact
of accreditation on healthcare institutions and negating it, we,
at quality, were intrigued to look into whether accredited
healthcare institutions were more ready to deal with the
requirements of COVID-19 or not?
Quality and patient safety organization, providing services
through consultation, capacity building and accreditation.
During establishment, we faced scepticism on whether the
accreditation approach was right. I am proud to showcase that
the accreditation approach has been able to push the bar quite
high and induce continuous improvements in healthcare
organizations.
Quality improvement is evident in hospitals that participated in
the accreditation journey influencing the development of
policy, programs, plans, ensuring training, requiring
infrastructural attention, and changing behaviour and practice.
That has no doubt led to better preparedness to respond to any
emergency, internal or external, while maintaining the
provision of safer care and high-quality services, despite
hardships.
Given the world, we now live in, and the challenges brought
about by the pandemic; namely, the health sector’s ability to
cope, respond and be resilient, it was intriguing to look at data
on accredited and non-accredited hospitals, to gauge their
readiness.
With focus on six areas: (1) emergency preparedness; (2)
infection control; (3) capacity building; (4) case management;
(5) communication; and, (6) laboratory services.

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The results alluded to the positive effects on hospitals having
gone through the accreditation journey and supported the
collection of required data related to COVID-19.
Accredited hospitals were found to have:
Well-structured Infection Prevention and Control (IPC)
Programs
1.Stronger ability to to upgrade their disaster
management plans to better manage COVID-19 cases (from
triage to inpatient)
2.Responsive committees that convened regularly to inform
and monitor practices
3.Complete policies and procedures that reference HCAC
standards and support accurate and timely communication and
decision making
4.Trained staff on IPC, occupational safety, risk management,
protocols and protocol adoption
5.Emergency preparedness plans already in place to guide
practices to safeguard health and uphold rights and
6.An inherent culture and internal systems for quality
monitoring, including data collection, performance indicators,
7.Proper documentation of patient records and clinical data.
Accredited hospitals reported that they were sought after for
guidance and advice on how to jumpstart systems and plans; a
testament that accreditation standards served as a catalyst and
roadmap during the management of COVID-19.
More comforting than surprising was that accreditation
contributed to hospitals’ readiness and ability to adapt existing
systems to respond to the influence of a pandemic.

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Much information emerged, such as how effective
collaboration and cooperation, public awareness and trust while
streamlining information sharing among hospital
administration as prescribed by accreditation supported flow of
information and eased response, attention to patient complaints
and empowerment of patients to partake in their well-being was
especially important in these times, and, well-maintained
laboratory services, safety measures and quality control
improvements allowed for the appropriate clinical management
of both pandemic and other patients.
Undoubtedly, the implementation of the accreditation
standards supported responsive and safer care in these
challenging times and beyond. Those simple basic
improvements that sometimes are taken for granted have made
many of our hospitals simply more ready.
Indeed, accreditation has worked; let’s keep doing it.