Perception of hospital accreditation among health professionals in Saudi Arabia.

BACKGROUND: Hospital accreditation assesses hospital performance against explicit standards. Studies of the efficacy of accreditation are limited, but suggest that Joint Commission International (JCI) accreditation is efficient in improving the safety and quality of care in accredited hospitals.

OBJECTIVES: This study aimed to assess the perceptions of health professionals on the impact of JCI accreditation and implementation of change towards the delivery of quality patient care.

DESIGN: Cross-sectional survey.

SETTINGS: King Abdulaziz Medical City in Jeddah, Saudi Arabia.

SUBJECTS: Between June 2016 and September 2016, a validated questionnaire was distributed to physicians, nurses, medical technologists, dietitians, and other allied healthcare professionals. The questionnaire consisted of 19 items covering participation in accreditation, benefits of accreditation, and the quality of results of accreditation. Demographic data collected on the participants included age, gender, educational attainment, profession, length of service, and department.

MAIN OUTCOME MEASURE(S): Participation in accreditation, benefits of accreditation, and quality of results of accreditation.

RESULTS: Hospital accreditation was given a worthy response from the general view of 901 health professionals. The mean (standard deviation) of scores on a 5-point Likert scale were 3.79 (0.68) for participation in accreditation, 3.85 (0.84) for benefits, and 3.54 (1.01) for quality of results.

CONCLUSION: As perceived by health professionals in our survey, accrediation had a positive impact on the process and implementation of change in the hospital that resulted in improvement in the delivery of patient care and other health services.

LIMITATIONS: Single institution study with no comparison made to other small, medium, or large-sized JCI-accredited hospitals in Saudi Arabia. Patient satisfaction before and after accreditation was not included.