National Accreditation Organization Research Articles

Assessment of the compliance of a hospital pharmacy with the pharmaceutical assistance requirements of the national accreditation organization

Introduction: Accreditation of health services is carried out on the basis of pre-established criteria and standards for the continuous improvement of quality and safety. Objective: To assess the compliance of a hospital pharmacy with the requirements of Level 1 Pharmaceutical Assistance of the National Accreditation Organization (ONA). Methods: This was a quantitative and cross-sectional study, carried out in the pharmacy of a public hospital in Campo Grande, Mato Grosso do Sul, Brazil. The 34 total requirements and 05 priority requirements (CORE) of the ONA Manual were assessed through individual interviews and evidence analysis. Each requirement was rated and scored on: Exceeds (1.2 points), Conforms (1.0 points), Partially Conforms (0.5 points) and Non Conforms (0 points). Compliance was calculated by averaging the requirements scores, multiplied by 100. Results: The hospital pharmacy presented 77.58% of compliance in relation to the total requirements Level 1 and 84.00% in relation to the CORE requirements. Of the total, 61.76% of the requirements were classified as Exceeding or Conforming, 23.53% as Partially Conforming and 11.76% as Non-Conforming. Conclusion: ONA sets minimum compliance standards of 80.00% (total requirements) and 90.00% (CORE) for accreditation. The institution's hospital pharmacy did not meet the minimum standards required. It is suggested that the identified shortcomings could provide an opportunity for the formulation of intervention strategies aimed at the continuous improvement of processes and results, contributing to the advancement in the quality of the services provided.

Discriminant Analysis for Determination of Early Childhood Education Accreditation In Southeast Sulawesi Province

Discriminant Analysis is a statistical analysis that can classify cases on independent variables into groups or categories of dependent variables. The main objective of this research is classify eight indicators of the National education standards (SNP) early childhood and classify the accreditation value of early childhood (PAUD) in Southeast Sulawesi Province. The method used in this study used discriminant analysis. Accreditation value factors used in this study include Standards for Child Development Achievement Levels (X1), Content Standards (X2), Process Standards (X3), Standards for Educators and Education Personnel (X4), Facilities and Infrastructure Standards (X5), Management Standards (X6), Financing Standards (X7) and Education Assessment Standards (X8). Based on the results of data analysis, 8 SNP Indicators qualify as a form of discriminant equation model and accreditation value obtained based on the calculations of the National accreditation organization (BAN) PAUD and Non Fromal Education (PNF) Southeast Sulawesi are classified as follows: there are divided into 3 classifications, namely Accreditation C is 91.7%, Accreditation B is 85.1%, and for Accreditation A is 100%. So, the accuracy of the classification is 87.5%.

Ensuring bachelor’s thesis assessment quality: a case study at one Dutch research university

PurposeIn the Netherlands, thesis assessment quality is a growing concern for the national accreditation organization due to increasing student numbers and supervisor workload. However, the accreditation framework lacks guidance on how to meet quality standards. This study aims to address these issues by sharing our experience, identifying problems and proposing guidelines for quality assurance for a thesis assessment system.Design/methodology/approachThis study has two parts. The first part is a narrative literature review conducted to derive guidelines for thesis assessment based on observations made at four Dutch universities. The second part is a case study conducted in one bachelor’s psychology-related program, where the assessment practitioners and the vice program director analyzed the assessment documents based on the guidelines developed from the literature review.FindingsThe findings of this study include a list of guidelines based on the four standards. The case study results showed that the program meets most of the guidelines, as it has a comprehensive set of thesis learning outcomes, peer coaching for novice supervisors, clear and complete assessment information and procedures for both examiners and students, and a concise assessment form.Originality/valueThis study is original in that it demonstrates how to holistically ensure the quality of thesis assessments by considering the context of the program and paying more attention to validity (e.g. program curriculum and assessment design), transparency (e.g. integrating assessment into the supervision process) and the assessment expertise of teaching staff.

Immunization requirements in medical school accreditation standards

Healthcare workers (HCW) are at risk of contracting vaccine-preventable diseases and spreading these infections to their patients. Vaccination against preventable diseases prior to clinical training can mitigate this risk. Accreditation guidance can be used as an opportunity to enforce desirable norms and standards. Standards from 144 national accreditation organizations spanning 123 member states listed in the Directory of Organizations that Recognize/Accredit Medical Schools by the Foundation for Advancement of International Medical Education and Research were reviewed and summarized. Findings were further stratified by World Bank income group and WHO region. While higher-income countries were more likely to have accreditation guidelines available than lower- or middle-income countries, few national medical school accreditation bodies specifically request immunization status of trainees as a standard. Further, almost none mention specific antigens for which immunity should be assessed. These findings should be used by medical school and other health professional training accreditation bodies to inform future policy direction to protect trainees as future HCW.

Segurança do paciente assistido na atenção primária

Quality has become a factor of great significance, directing institutions to national and international markets, requiring organizational success and development. The expression “patient safety” refers to the reduction, to an acceptable minimum level, of the risk of unnecessary harm associated with health care. It can be considered a relatively new area of knowledge, related to the sphere of management and quality, which gained momentum from the 2000s onwards. The Health Units have been growing gradually over the decades, being annually accredited by the National Accreditation Organization (ONA), meeting the goals established for a safe practice for the patient. The present work has the final objective of demonstrating the safety goals standardized by the ONA, exposing the adequate practice to the patient assisted in primary care units. This is a qualitative literature review study, with a temporal cut in the last ten years, addressing the proposed theme. The scientific databases PubMed, SciELO, LILACS and Google Scholar were consulted, also considering in this work, citations and references within the articles used that precede the proposed time frame. Thus, to thoroughly demonstrate these safety items in this study, it was exposed from this conception of what a Primary Health Care service is to the safety goals applied within health units in Brazil.

HOSPITAL ACCREDITATION IN THE BRAZILIAN CONTEXT

Introduction: Hospital accreditation aims to promote patient care and assistance and quality in the institution's sectors, aiming at process safety, integrated management and continuous improvement. Objective: to identify in Brazil in 2021 the types of establishments certified in the country, as well as their respective states, type of management and certification seals in force in the national territory. Method: Descriptive and retrospective study with a quantitative approach. The search was carried out on the website of the National Accreditation Organization in October 2021. Variables of interest were considered: types of accredited health establishments, types of certifications in force in the national territory, type of management of the accredited establishment, state and city of establishments. Results: The analyzes identified that in the month of October 2021 there are 906 certifications in the Brazilian territory. Of these, 760 (84%) of the accreditations in the national territory are private institutions and 337 (37.2%) are hospital institutions. As for the certification seal, 201 (22.1%) of the institutions are accredited (level I) and 341 (37.6%) are located in the state of São Paulo. Conclusions: It was possible to obtain a view of the accreditation certifications in force in Brazil through their characterization, in order to visualize which types of seals, establishments and states are covered with health establishments committed to quality and excellence in care.

Panorama da acreditação (inter)nacional no Brasil

ABSTRACT Objective to outline the panorama of national and international Accreditation in Brazil. Method a descriptive study, of quantitative approach and documental source. The survey fields were the unrestricted access online pages of the following accrediting methodologies: National Accreditation Organization (ONA), Joint Commission International (JCI), Accreditation Canada International (ACI), and QMentum International, besides the page of the National Registry of Health Establishments (CNES) and/or institutional sites. Variables were extracted: type of institution/health care facility; sector management regime; location; level of certification (in case of a seal granted by ONA), and size (for hospitals). Descriptive statistical analysis was used. Results data from 1,122 certifications was obtained, especially from ONA (77.2%) and QMentum International (13.2%). Hospitals prevailed in the Accreditation adherence (35.3%), mainly the large ones (60.3%) and from the private sector (75.8%). There was a concentration of quality seals in the Southeast region of Brazil (64.5%), and the North region presented the lowest proportion of certified establishments (3%). Conclusions and implications for practice the Accreditation certifications in Brazil refer to the national methodology, focusing on the private hospital area and the Southeast region of the country. The mapping outlined can support assertiveness in incentive policies for quality management and external evaluation in Brazil.

Formal evidence-based medicine instruction in Turkish undergraduate medical education: an initial evaluation

BackgroundGlobal and national undergraduate medical education accreditation organizations recommend the inclusion of Evidence-Based Medicine (EBM) instructions into the medical schools’ curricula. Accordingly, some Turkish medical schools have individually developed and implemented EBM training programs, but there is no data of current programs’ effectiveness and students’ learning achievements due to the lack of a validated Turkish language EBM assessment tool.This study evaluates the effect of a newly introduced formal EBM instruction to the curriculum on students’ knowledge and skills by using the recently published Turkish adaptation of the Fresno Test.MethodsThe study is an experimental investigation using pre- and post-test evaluations. A five-week EBM course was developed according to Kern’s six-step curriculum development approach. A total of 78 students from the third (n = 30), fourth (n = 19) and fifth (n = 29) year of medical school voluntarily consented and were enrolled into the course. Overall, the Cerrahpaşa Medical Faculty had a total of 555, 461, and 400 students enrolled in the third, fourth, and fifth year, respectively.The program has been evaluated based on students’ learning achievements and survey responses.ResultsThe students’ mean pre-test Fresno Test score improved from 49.9 ± 18.2 to 118.9 ± 26.3 post-training. The Cohen’s effect size was 3.04 (95% CI, 2.6–3.5). The overall students’ satisfaction score was 8.66 ± 1.09 on a 1 to 10 scale.ConclusionsThe program was effective in improving students’ knowledge and skills on EBM. We propose to offer the program as an elective course during the third year of the medical school curriculum based on all data obtained during the program evaluation.

Quality, Safety, and Standards Organizations COVID-19 Impact Assessment: Lessons Learned and Compelling Needs.

The stark reality of the COVID-19 pandemic challenged the very systems established to ensure the nation’s safety and quality. The pandemic resurfaced long-endemic challenges within the health care quality and standards ecosystem and identified novel challenges that cannot be ignored. This paper examines: 1. the health care quality and standards ecosystem pre-pandemic; 2. vulnerabilities in quality and standards organizations exposed by COVID-19; 3. quality and standards organizations’ responses during the pandemic; 4. opportunities to improve the national response to improving quality and safety overall with a particular focus on readiness in the case of disasters, pandemics, or other national emergencies; 5. sector-wide policy, regulatory, and legal changes that might be transformative; and 6. priorities moving forward. The quality and safety focus of the American health care system has a long history, dating back to the 19th and early 20th centuries. Quality of care is generally understood as providing the right care for the right person at the right time—every time. Several seminal laws and publications over the last 60 years have shaped the current quality landscape in profound ways and have been cataloged in numerous publications [1,2,3,4]. These publications generally point to several landmark occurrences that have shaped the evolution of quality measurement, improvement activities, and safety standards over the years. The evolution has centered around four main levers (see Figure 1): Open in a separate window FIGURE 1 Key Levers for Care Quality and Safety 1. survey, certification, and accreditation of facilities, laboratories, health plans, and providers; 2. quality measurement, incentives, and payment reforms; 3. public ratings of providers and facilities; and 4. quality improvement learning and action networks. Survey, Certification, and Accreditation The role of government in establishing quality and safety standards for the health care system became prominent with the implementation of the 1965 Medicare legislation, in which Congress explicitly tied payment to the achievement of minimum health and safety standards, commonly known as conditions of participation (CoPs). Initially, the CoPs focused on medical staff qualifications, nursing services, and utilization review, but have since evolved to include minimum standards for various other important safety issues, including infection control, emergency preparedness, quality assurance, performance improvement, and medication management. States also established health and safety requirements for facility licensure. State standards for health and safety must, at a minimum, align with the CoPs but may go above and beyond the federal requirements. While the state government and federal surveyors perform inspections for many facilities (primarily nursing homes), the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services (CMS) has approved several national accreditation organizations (AOs) to perform survey functions [5]. One of the largest AOs is the Joint Commission. Founded in 1951, the “Joint Commission accreditation can be earned by many types of health care organizations, including hospitals, doctor’s [sic] offices, nursing homes, office-based surgery centers, behavioral health treatment facilities, and providers of home care services” [65]. In 1990, the National Committee for Quality Assurance (NCQA) was established as a nonprofit organization that accredits quality programs for health plans, physicians, and other providers. NCQA developed the first set of standards for health plan quality using a set of evidence-based requirements and measurements.

Contributive factors for the consolidation of patient safety culture in the hospital environment

ABSTRACT Objective: To understand the contributing factors for the consolidation of the patient safety culture, from a management perspective, in an accredited hospital. Method: A qualitative study developed in a hospital institution of size IV, accredited by the National Accreditation Organization as level II, located in the northwest region of the State of Rio Grande do Sul/Brazil. The inclusion criteria were the following: having been in the leadership position of the institution for over a year and actively participating in the accreditation process. Leaders on vacation or absent due to illness in August 2018 were excluded. The collection was performed using the Focus Group technique in August 2018. Data were explored by thematic analysis. Results: The group reported teamwork, professional appreciation, management support, implementation of protocols, professional satisfaction, and working conditions as factors that contributed to the consolidation of the safety culture. Conclusions and implications for practice: The identified factors allowed for a cultural change in the institution through participatory management in processes and results that encourage workers to assume significant roles in advancing patient safety by assimilating and taking responsibility for change, which plays a crucial role in developing safe care.

Towards a Multi-source Performance Appraisal Model in Omani Higher Education Institutions

Higher education institutions (HEIs), across the globe, have been increasingly applying staff performance appraisals (PA) to ensure good quality educational outcomes, and to meet the requirements of national and international quality assurance and academic accreditation organizations. Staff at the forefront of PA since they are affected either positively or negatively by the outcome of the process. PA models and the way the process is conducted have long been a controversial issue among both academics and administrators in HEIs. The core of the debate is that PA models and their implementations may not always be sufficiently comprehensive, transparent, and fair enough to accurately and realistically reflect staff performance. Focusing on English as a foreign language (EFL) teachers in an Omani private university, the present study is aimed to investigate EFL teachers’ views and perceptions about PA and the implementation practices with a view of providing some recommendations that could help improve the process. Most previous relevant studies in the literature seem to have addressed PA from a theoretical perspective, and there seems to be a lack of empirical studies. In contrast, the present study attempted to explore the issue more empirically, and to this end, the study adopted an exploratory qualitative research methodology with semi-structured interviews being the main method of data collection.Ten EFL teachers took part in the investigation through face-to-face tape-recorded interviews. Results indicated dissatisfaction with the PA system and its implementation, suggesting a number of deficiencies. Participants also questioned the validity of the prime role given to students in the evaluation of teachers in the PA process as well as the lack of effective criteria and transparency in the choice of peer appraisers. Moreover, the lack of communication and training of both appraisers and appraisees were among the major issues reported by the participants. Implications for PA practices improvement and advancement were presented and discussed.

Obstetric Care Consensus #9: Levels of Maternal Care: (Replaces Obstetric Care Consensus Number 2, February 2015)

Maternal mortality and severe maternal morbidity, particularly among women of color, have increased in the United States. The leading medical causes of maternal mortality include cardiovascular disease, infection, and common obstetric complications such as hemorrhage and vary by timing relative to the end of pregnancy. Although specific modifications in the clinical management of some of these conditions have been instituted, more can be done to improve the system of care for high-risk women at facility and population levels. The goal of levels of maternal care is to reduce maternal morbidity and mortality, including existing disparities, by encouraging the growth and maturation of systems for the provision of risk-appropriate care specific to maternal health needs. To standardize a complete and integrated system of perinatal regionalization and risk-appropriate maternal care, this classification system establishes levels of maternal care that pertain to basic care (level I), specialty care (level II), subspecialty care (level III), and regional perinatal health care centers (level IV). The determination of the appropriate level of care to be provided by a given facility should be guided by regional and state health care entities, national accreditation and professional organization guidelines, identified regional perinatal health care service needs, and regional resources. State and regional authorities should work together with the multiple institutions within a region, and with the input from their obstetric care providers, to determine the appropriate coordinated system of care and to implement policies that promote and support a regionalized system of care. These relationships enhance the ability of women to give birth safely in their communities while providing support for circumstances when higher level resources are needed. This document is a revision of the original 2015 Levels of Maternal Care Obstetric Care Consensus, which has been revised primarily to clarify terminology and to include more recent data based on published literature and feedback from levels of maternal care implementation.

Patient-Reported Unmet Needs in Colorectal Cancer Survivors After Treatment for Curative Intent.

With improving survival from colorectal cancer, there is a growing population of patients undergoing surveillance. National accreditation organizations have increasingly endorsed formal survivorship care planning. To effectively design patient-centered survivorship programs, an understanding of the prevalence of unmet psychosocial and symptomatic needs is required. The aim of this study is to understand the breadth of unmet needs among survivors of colorectal cancer. This is a cross-sectional survey of patients undergoing surveillance after curative-intent therapy for colorectal cancer. This study was conducted June 2017 to January 2018 at an academic cancer center. There were 99 patients (58 with colon cancer, 41 with rectal cancer). We measured patient-reported unmet needs by using a modification of the Cancer Survivor Unmet Needs instrument, within domains of emotional (stress, concerns about recurrence), relationship (fertility, interpersonal), logistical (need for accessible parking, case management), financial, treatment-related (neuropathy, bowel function), and surveillance-related needs. The mean (±SD) age was 58 (±12), and the time from diagnosis was 34 (±18) months. Overall, 74% of patients reported at least one unmet need, 49% reported emotional needs, 24% relationship needs, 24% financial needs, 25% logistical needs, and 33% surveillance needs. Thirty-six (62%) patients with colon cancer and 37 (90%) patients with rectal cancer reported at least one ongoing problem (p = 0.002). Thirty-five (82%) patients with rectal cancer reported an unmet treatment-related need in comparison with 23 (40%) patients with colon cancer (p < 0.001). The median (interquartile range) number of ongoing needs were 1 (0-5) in patients with colon cancer and 4 (2-8) in patients with rectal cancer (p = 0.007). This study was limited by its small sample size and lack of generalizability, given the tertiary care setting. The majority of colorectal cancer survivors reported unmet needs years after completion of curative-intent therapy. Patients with rectal cancer were significantly more likely to have unmet needs and may benefit from additional care during survivorship. Colorectal cancer survivorship programs should incorporate psychosocial and symptomatic care in addition to cancer surveillance. See Video Abstract at http://links.lww.com/DCR/A885.

Neonatal Total Parenteral Nutrition: Initiative and implementation of standardized formulation in Saudi Arabia

The total parental nutrition considered as high alert medications for neonates population and others. Several medications safety institutions and international with national accreditation organization recommended setting prevention measure of medical error events. The new medications safety project initiative was neonates standardized parental nutrition formulation. The formulation contained all requirements of American Parenteral and Enteral Nutrition and European Parental and Enteral Nutrition standard. Also, to the United State Pharmacopeia 797 stranded. The formulation is suitable for neonates with formal renal and hepatic functions with common neonate’s requirements Parenteral Nutrition in Saudi Arabia. The new initiative’s project may implement through explored project management tools with close measurements of performance indicators outcome. The neonate’s standardized formulation of parental nutrition new programs at Ministry of Health hospitals in the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia with Gulf and Middle East counties.

The Influence of Accreditation on the Sustainability of Organizations with the Brazilian Accreditation Methodology.

This research evaluates the influence of the Brazilian accreditation methodology on the sustainability of the organizations. Critical factors for implementing accreditation were also examined, including measuring the relationships established between these factors in the organization sustainability. The present study was developed based on the survey methodology applied in the organizations accredited by ONA (National Accreditation Organization); 288 responses were received from the top level managers. The analysis of quantitative data of the measurement models was made with factorial analysis from principal components. The final model was evaluated from the confirmatory factorial analysis and structural equation modeling techniques. The results from the research are vital for the definition of factors that interfere in the accreditation processes, providing a better understanding for accredited organizations and for Brazilian accreditation.

Drugs via enteral feeding tubes in inpatients: dispersion analysis and safe use of dispensers.

This study aimed to improve knowledge about drug administration through enteral feeding tubes (EFTs) in order to minimize efficacy and safety problems. The study was performed in a public secondary care hospital with level II accreditation by the National Accreditation Organization (Organização Nacional de Acreditação ONA), in Fortaleza, Ceará, north-eastern Brazil. One hundred and eight oral solid medications that could be administered through EFTs and were not available in liquid forms were evaluated via transformation of their solid dosage forms into liquid forms. Dispersion times and conditions were assessed to determine which medications should be crushed. We compared the use of dispensers and syringes and their connections to enteral feeding tubes and intravenous devices. Medications whose dispersion occurred within 20 minutes and could be visually perceived and whose content could be expelled without occluding the oral syringe were considered "satisfactory". The dispersion was "satisfactory" in 82 (75.9%) of the medications; they were classified as capable of being dispersed in water in the oral syringe for further administration via EFTs without the need for crushing. Use the dispenser instead of the syringe for drug administration was safer because the dispenser apparatus did not fit into equipment for intravenous drug administration.

Offshore Medical Schools Are Buying Clinical Clerkships in U.S. Hospitals: The Problem and Potential Solutions.

U.S. medical education faces a threat from for-profit Caribbean medical schools which purchase clinical rotation slots for their students at U.S. hospitals. These offshore schools are monetizing a system that was previously characterized as a duty-the duty of the current generation of physicians to educate their successors. Offshore schools purchase clinical rotation slots using funds largely derived from federally subsidized student loans. This leads to pressure on U.S. schools to pay for clinical clerkships and is forcing some of them to find new clinical training sites.For-profit Caribbean schools largely escape the type of scrutiny that U.S. schools face from U.S. national accreditation organizations. They also enroll large classes of students with lower undergraduate GPAs and Medical College Admission Test scores than those of students at U.S. medical schools; their students take and pass Step 1 of the United States Medical Licensing Examination at a substantially lower rate than that of U.S. medical students; and their students match for residencies at a fraction of the rate of U.S. medical school graduates.Among the potential solutions proposed by the authors are passing laws to hold for-profit Caribbean schools to standards for board passage rates, placing restrictions on federal student loans, monitoring attrition rates, and denying offshore schools access to U.S. clinical training sites unless they meet accreditation standards equivalent to those of U.S. medical schools.

EVIDENCE-BASED PSYCHOSOCIAL INTERVENTIONS: NOVEL CHALLENGES FOR TRAINING AND IMPLEMENTATION.

The Institute of Medicine’s (IOM) report on psychosocial interventions challenges us to think not only about the way we study and deliver these important treatments, but also the way we teach and implement them. The report’s emphasis on protecting consumers by ensuring that effective psychosocial interventions are delivered in forms that closely approximate the ones for which the evidence exists has major implications for recruitment and training of faculty, didactic and supervisory teaching methods, competency standards held by national accreditation organizations, and research training. We briefly outline each of these issues below. Perhaps, the real game-changing suggestion of the report is that psychosocial interventions be delivered, taught, and researched using an “elements approach.” In its most radical form, this model, which is somewhat analogous to dimensional model of psychopathology taken by the NIMH’s Research Domain Criteria (RDoC), identifies elements that are both effective and common to multiple types of psychotherapy so that these elements can be studied, taught, and delivered a la carte. This is an exciting and challenging way to conceptualize psychosocial interventions that would require an entirely new approach to training. Curricula would cease to consist of separate courses and supervisors for each type of treatment, instead of employing a single “psychosocial interventions” course that would teach each of the effective elements and how and when to use them. Faculty trained in each of the psychotherapies would have to be retrained in the elements approach, with new or harmonized terminology and an “un-silo-ing” of their approach to assessment, treatment, and formulation. This could be difficult, as loyal practitioners of different psychotherapies often mix as well as oil and water. Even if psychotherapies continued to be delivered and taught in their extant forms, beginning to think about the effective elements of these interventions could prompt new and innovative ways to teach these common elements, much as we teach factors such as therapeutic alliance, empathic listening, and maintaining frame/boundaries as being common to all forms of therapy. The elements approach would also require new directions for psychotherapy research training, with requisite reframing for established psychotherapy research mentors. Beyond the discussion of the elements approach, the major thrust of the report is the importance of delivering psychosocial interventions that maintain fidelity to the effective form for which evidence exists. Sadly, much is often lost in translation, leading to less than ideal health care delivery. Changing this for psychosocial interventions will require increased attention to quality measures, as well as altering training in the following domains.

Acreditação hospitalar como estratégia de melhoria: impactos em seis hospitais acreditados

A acreditação tem sido utilizada por muitos países para estimular a melhoria da qualidade dos serviços hospitalares. No Brasil, a difusão da acreditação hospitalar é de responsabilidade da Organização Nacional de Acreditação (ONA). Os estudos sobre os impactos da acreditação hospitalar têm despertado o interesse da comunidade acadêmica. O artigo tem o objetivo de analisar os impactos da acreditação no desempenho organizacional de hospitais. Foi adotada a abordagem qualitativa de pesquisa e o método de casos múltiplos. Foram realizados casos em seis hospitais acreditados do Estado de São Paulo. Os resultados evidenciaram que a acreditação hospitalar tem capacidade de gerar melhorias relacionadas à gestão dos processos, satisfação dos clientes e desenvolvimento de profissionais de saúde. O trabalho contribui ao ampliar os estudos sobre acreditação no Brasil

Understanding the 2012 NSTA Science Standards for Teacher Preparation

The purpose of this article is to present the new National Science Teachers Association–Standards for Science Teacher Preparation (NSTA–SSTP). The Council for the Accreditation of Educator Preparation (CAEP) is the new national accreditation organization for programs of education. NSTA collaborates with CAEP to establish content specific standards for the evaluation of science education programs. Recently, NSTA has developed new science teacher education standards that reflect the research base associated with what a new science teacher should know. The standards were developed from national guidelines and the research literature on science education. The new NSTA–SSTP reflect the knowledge, skills, and dispositions that a newly certified teacher must know and be able to do. The paper concludes with a description of how to submit a report to CAEP and NSTA for accreditation of a secondary science education program.