Developing 21stcentury accreditation standards for teaching hospitals: the Taiwan experience

Chung-I Huang,Che-Ming Yang,Cathy Wung

doi:10.1186/1472-6963-9-232

Abstract

BackgroundThe purpose of this study is to establish teaching hospital accreditation standards anew with the hope that Taiwan's teaching hospitals can live up to the expectations of our society and ensure quality teaching.MethodsThe development process lasted two years, 2005-2006, and was separated into three stages. The first stage centered on leadership meetings and consensus building, the second on drafting the new standards with expert focus groups, and the third on a pilot study and subsequent revision.ResultsOur new teaching hospital accreditation standards have six categories and 95 standards as follows: educational resources (20 items), teaching and training plans and outcomes (42 items), research and results (9 items), development of clinical faculty and continuing education (8 items), academic exchanges and community education (8 items), and administration (8 items).ConclusionsThe new standards have proven feasible and posed reasonable challenges in the pilot study. We hope the new standards will strengthen teaching and research, and improve the quality of hospital services at the same time.

Highlights

The purpose of this study is to establish teaching hospital accreditation standards anew with the hope that Taiwan's teaching hospitals can live up to the expectations of our society and ensure quality teaching
Taiwan started accrediting hospitals in 1986 when the Medical Care Act aimed at improving health care quality through regulatory reform was first enacted
Similar examples can be found around the globe, such as the Joint Commission [13], the Japan Council for Quality Health Care (JCQHC) [14], Accreditation Canada [15], and the Australian Council on Health care Standards (ACHS) [16]

Summary

Introduction

The purpose of this study is to establish teaching hospital accreditation standards anew with the hope that Taiwan's teaching hospitals can live up to the expectations of our society and ensure quality teaching. It has been well established that does hospital accreditation elevate health care quality, it improves the abilities of health care personnel [1]. We cannot only survey structures for the purpose of accreditation, and need to evaluate outcomes and processes [3]. Taiwan started accrediting hospitals in 1986 when the Medical Care Act aimed at improving health care quality through regulatory reform was first enacted. The Department of Health (DOH), Taiwan, conducted the accreditations by itself. The scope of accreditation has been expanded and elaborated, requiring 12 categories of surveyors to conduct a simultaneous (page number not for citation purposes)

Objectives

Methods

Results

Discussion

Conclusion