An Overview of Patient Safety and Accreditation: A Literature Review Study

Abstract

Patient safety is one of the most important points to consider in healthcare. As such, various programs are entered by healthcare institutions to monitor their services including patient safety procedures. One of these programs is accreditation. Accreditation is an internationally recognized evaluation process used to assess, promote and guarantee efficient and effective quality of patient care and patient safety. This study will provide valuable information regarding the impact and limitations of the accreditation process found by other researchers as well as the experience of King Abdul-Aziz University Hospital in Saudi Arabia. The 28 out of 81 (34.57%) patient safely indicators significantly improved during accreditation process at King Abdulaziz University Hospital. Survey results show that the overall average of relative improvement percent is 34.43%. Both results are similar to other findings. The accreditation process as experienced by King Abdulaziz University Hospital has significantly improved 1/3 of patient safety indicators and perception of nursing staffs is correlated with statistical findings. Those findings are supported by international literature. © Medwell Journals, 2011.