Pursuit Of Accreditation Research Articles

Practical Considerations for Obtaining Perioperative Transesophageal Echocardiography Accreditation: Collective Experiences at Early-Adopting Centers

The Intersocietal Accreditation Commission (IAC) is a non-profit accrediting organization committed to ensuring the quality of diagnostic imaging and related procedures. It is comprised of a collaboration of stakeholders, spanning numerous medical professionals and specialties. In a recent initiative, IAC Echocardiography introduced a new accreditation specifically for Perioperative Transesophageal Echocardiography (PTE). This accreditation process is anchored in rigorous clinical peer review to ensure diagnostic quality and report accuracy, thus maintaining high standards of medical care.The authors represent the inaugural four sites to achieve IAC accreditation for PTE who have collaborated to share their experiences in achieving this accreditation. This review endeavors to offer actionable insights and proven solutions to navigate the accreditation journey for others. Mirroring the IAC Standards and Guidelines for PTE accreditation, this review is divided into three pivotal sections: 1) organization of a perioperative echocardiography service, including stakeholder engagement to facilitate the application for accreditation; 2) performance of examinations and reporting; and 3) instituting quality improvement strategies and establishing a robust program.The pursuit of accreditation in PTE is to transcend a mere compliance exercise. It signifies a dedication to excellence, continual growth, and above all to the well-being of patients.

Adopting a Public Health Lens: One Program's Story

Context The clinical practice of athletic training involves the daily application of public health (PH) principles and practices. In recent years, there has been an increased interest in understanding and promoting the intersections of athletic training and PH. Objective The primary objective of this article is to share the path taken by the Oregon State University athletic training faculty to integrate PH perspectives into our work and provide examples of how this has affected our program, scholarly work, and service activities. Background Our college pursued and obtained accreditation from the Council for Education for Public Health. During the pursuit of accreditation, the college's leadership encouraged each academic program to integrate direct connections to PH. Description Our athletic training program embraced the administration's encouragement to adopt a PH lens and took definitive steps developing relationships and establishing collaborations with PH experts. Additionally, we started to establish approaches for infusing PH content and perspectives into our curriculum. Clinical Advantage Athletic training programs can position themselves and their students to forge partnerships and find resources, solutions, or skill sets that are currently underutilized in athletic training. Conclusions The adoption of a PH lens by the athletic training program at Oregon State University has benefitted students and faculty. We recommend all athletic training programs explore opportunities to integrate PH into activities inside and outside of the classroom.

Pursuing Public Health Accreditation: A Focus on HOW.

Balancing competing imperatives of conserving scarce resources while improving organizational performance and community health, many local health departments (LHDs) have decided to pursue national, voluntary public health accreditation as a guide to improvement, but how to do so in the most efficient way possible remains a question for many. This study employed a participatory action research approach in which LHD directors and accreditation coordinators from 7 accredited and 3 late-stage accreditation ready Kentucky LHD jurisdictions participated. Participants organized a set of accreditation deliverables into a chronological sequencing of each site's accreditation readiness process, which was then coded by researchers to identify similarities and differences. All participating jurisdictions had all-hazards emergency operations plans and public health emergency operations plans while none had workforce development plans, quality improvement plans, or performance management plans before launching accreditation readiness activities. Also identified were the number of accreditation deliverables attempted, simultaneously, by each site and the importance of specific deliverables having a singular focus. Sequences of work on specific deliverables by the majority of participants included completing work on the quality improvement plan immediately, followed by the performance management plan, the Community Health Assessment before the Community Health Improvement Plan, and a strategic plan, followed by a workforce development plan. Factors influencing accreditation readiness processes, elements for sustaining processes, and lessons learned throughout the pursuit of accreditation were also provided by participants. Recognizing the impact of staff availability, staff skill sets, training, and available financial resources on the pursuit of accreditation, participants determined that aggregating lessons learned into a flowchart highlighting the interconnectedness of accreditation deliverables could produce a road map for LHDs. Accreditation deliverables could be attempted in a logical, efficient order particularly valuable to small LHDs with limited resources and yet adaptable for those jurisdictions able to devote more resources to the process.

‘Another accreditation? what’s the point?’ effective planning and implementation for specialised accreditation

ABSTRACTGlobally, attention to quality and accreditation in higher education continues trending upward. This is attributable to a number of factors, such as the internationalisation of higher education, stakeholders demanding accountability, international rankings; parents and students wanting assurance that a diploma equals employment. Universities and individual programmes pursue accreditation because it is mandated; others to stand out in a crowded marketplace. The somewhat voluntary pursuit of accreditation raises two relevant questions. First, to what degree do teachers and administrators perceive its value? Second, for institutions and programmes seeking accreditation for the first time, is there a strategic approach that may effectively help prepare for the accreditation process? First, these issues are explored with teachers and administrators who have experienced the accreditation process. Second, using Bolman and Deal’s four frames for organisational analysis, this research proposes a strategic approach to analysing the institutional context and laying the foundation for successful accreditation efforts.

Attaining ISO 15189 accreditation through SLMTA: A journey by Kenya's National HIV Reference Laboratory.

BackgroundThe National HIV Reference Laboratory (NHRL) serves as Kenya’s referral HIV laboratory, offering specialised testing and external quality assessment, as well as operating the national HIV serology proficiency scheme. In 2010, the Kenya Ministry of Health established a goal for NHRL to achieve international accreditation.ObjectivesThis study chronicles the journey that NHRL took in pursuit of accreditation, along with the challenges and lessons learned.MethodsNHRL participated in the Strengthening Laboratory Management Toward Accreditation (SLMTA) programme from 2010–2011. Improvement projects were undertaken to address gaps in the 12 quality system essentials through development of work plans, team formation, training and mentorship of personnel. Audits were conducted and the scores used to track progress along a five-star grading scale. Standard quality indicators (turn-around time, specimen rejection rates and service interruptions) were measured. Costs of improvement projects and accreditation were estimated based on expenditures.ResultsNHRL scored 45% (zero stars) at baseline in March 2010 and 95% (five stars) after programme completion in October 2011; in 2013 it became the first public health laboratory in Kenya to attain ISO 15189 accreditation. From 2010–2013, turn-around times decreased by 50% – 95%, specimen rejections decreased by 93% and service interruptions dropped from 15 to zero days. Laboratory expenditures associated with achieving accreditation were approximately US $36 500.ConclusionInternational accreditation is achievable through SLMTA, even for a laboratory with limited initial quality management systems. Key success factors were dedication to a shared goal, leadership commitment, team formation and effective mentorship. Countries wishing to achieve accreditation must ensure adequate funding and support.

Convergence and Divergence Dynamics inBritish andFrench Business Schools: How Will the Pressure for Accreditation Influence these Dynamics?

This paper focuses on convergence and divergence dynamics among leadingBritish andFrench business schools and explores how the pressure for accreditation influences these dynamics. We illustrate that despite historical differences in approaches to management education inBritain andFrance, these approaches have converged partly based on the influence of theAmerican model of management education but more recently through the pursuit of accreditation, in particular from theAssociation toAdvanceCollegiateSchools ofBusiness and theEuropeanQualityImprovementStandard. We explore these dynamics through the application of the resource‐based view of the firm and institutional theory and suggest that, whilst achieving accreditation is a necessary precursor for international competition, it is no longer a form of competitive advantage. The pursuit of accreditation has fostered a form of competitive mimicry reducing national distinctiveness. The resource‐based view of the firm suggests that the top schools need a more heterogeneous approach that is not easily replicable if they are to outperform the competitors. Consequently, the convergence of management education inBritain andFrance will become a new impetus for divergence. We assert that future growth and competitive advantage might be better achieved through the reassertion of national, regional and local cultural characteristics.

Globalization - Indian B-Schools in Pursuit of Accreditation

Management education, in its current phase of robust growth, is a process of global learning that is under way through diffusion of best practices in design, formulation and delivery of academic programs. The globalization process of a B-school is complicated and involves highly evolved systems, structure, and management with high quality of faculty who are constantly exposed to global quality assessment benchmarks. With intense competition expected from abroad, and the Indian B-schools themselves moving to global markets, international accreditation has become imperative as it not only gives an endorsement of the cutting-edge quality achieved by the B-school but it also helps to sustain the growth achieved during the accreditation phase in its continued maintenance in the global context. This paper on Indian B-schools, getting poised for the challenge of International Accreditation, with a positive spirit through quality assurance mechanism to extend their global reach, will be of interest to students, academicians and management professionals.

Globalization - Indian B-Schools in Pursuit of Accreditation

Management education, in its current phase of robust growth, is a process of global learning that is under way through diffusion of best practices in design, formulation and delivery of academic programs. The globalization process of a B-school is complicated and involves highly evolved systems, structure, and management with high quality of faculty who are constantly exposed to global quality assessment benchmarks. With intense competition expected from abroad, and the Indian B-schools themselves moving to global markets, international accreditation has become imperative as it not only gives an endorsement of the cutting-edge quality achieved by the B-school but it also helps to sustain the growth achieved during the accreditation phase in its continued maintenance in the global context. This paper on Indian B-schools, getting poised for the challenge of International Accreditation, with a positive spirit through quality assurance mechanism to extend their global reach, will be of interest to students, academicians and management professionals.

Negotiating Assimilation: Chicago Catholic High Schools' Pursuit of Accreditation in the Early Twentieth Century

At the Catholic Educational Association's (CEA) annual meeting in 1911, Reverend John E Green, president of St. Rita College Prep, an academy for boys on the southwest side of Chicago administered by the Augustinian Fathers, argued against Catholic schools' seeking accreditation from non-Catholic institutions. He called the practice “a heterodoxical spectacle” and “a stultification of our claim of the necessity of Catholic education.” Reverend Green opposed accreditation by both state agencies and professional associations, but just five years later requested assistance from the speaker of the Illinois House of Representatives, David E. Shanahan, to pursue state recognition for St. Rita. Speaker Shanahan called on the Illinois Superintendent of Public Instruction and asked him to respond to Reverend Green's request to dispatch the Illinois High School Supervisor to St Rita. What motivated a staunch opponent of recognition and accreditation like Green to go to such lengths to procure it? While accreditation by non-Catholic institutions did not negate the need for Catholic education, as Reverend Green feared, how did it contribute to the assimilation of Catholic schools and hence Chicago Catholics in the early twentieth century?