Impact of accreditation on health care services performance in Kiryandongo district, Uganda: a longitudinal study

Upholding Quality and Patient Safety during COVID-19 Pandemic-A Jordanian Case Study

BACKGROUND

The advent of the COVID-19 pandemic caused a rapid increase in demand for healthcare services over a prolonged period, and the hospital emergency preparedness system has been essential. Therefore, this study aimed to explore Jordanian hospitals' response to emergency situations and examine the underlying role and effect of accreditation programs as a "Quality and Patient Safety" tool to deal with emergency situations during the pandemic.

METHODS

An online survey for a cross-sectional study was conducted in Jordan between 1 March and 30 May 2022, to examine the opinions of hospitals' top, senior, and middle managers using a validated questionnaire.

RESULTS

A total of 200 healthcare providers from 30 hospitals participated in the study. From the areas within accreditation standards that were investigated, capacity building on emergency preparedness and communication abilities received the least scores (2.46 and 2.48, respectively). Additionally, hospitals with mature quality and patient safety culture (>3 accreditation cycles) demonstrated a statistically significant difference in score in two domains-emergency preparedness (p = 0.027) and infection prevention and control (p = 0.024).

CONCLUSIONS

During outbreaks, hospitals that are required to comply with accreditation standards that address all emergency preparedness aspects will fare better in quality performance.

Key success factors for the implementation of quality management systems in developing countries

Background

Despite the tremendous progress made in advancing laboratory medicine in low- and middle-income countries (LMICs), inadequate quality management systems (QMSs) remain a problem and barrier to provision of reliable laboratory services in resource-limited settings. Therefore, it is useful to study the experience of medical laboratories in LMICs that have successfully implemented QMS.

Aim

This review identified key success factors (KSFs) for medical laboratories in LMICs implementing QMS in accordance with the International Organization for Standardization standard 15189 as a pathway to improving laboratory quality.

Methods

Applying Preferred Reporting Items for Systematic Reviews procedures, we conducted a targeted search of studies from LMICs published between 2012 and 2022 to identify KSFs. Thirty-two out of 952 references retrieved were considered relevant and included in this review. Grounded theory was used to extract key features of the included studies to derive KSFs.

Results

Ten KSFs for medical laboratories striving to implement QMS were identified and described. These KSFs were integrated to create a model of success for laboratory QMS implementation. The model consists of three underlying factors, namely preparing for change, resource availability, and effective project management, each comprising three separate KSFs. Institutional commitment was identified as the core of the model and is integral to ensuring the quality of laboratory services.

Conclusion

Laboratories planning to implement a QMS can benefit from understanding the KSFs demonstrated in this study as this would help them to identify the necessary changes to implement and set realistic expectations about the outcomes of QMS implementation.