Health Care : Current Reviews

THE IMPACT OF THE ALIGNMENT OF ACCREDITATION, QUALITY AND PERFORMANCE MANAGEMENT IN SAUDI HOSPITALS

7^th World Congress on Healthcare & Technologies

September 26-27, 2016 London, UK

Heba Alqurashi, Abraham Althonayan and Panagiota Nikopolous-Smyrny

Brunel University London, UK

Scientific Tracks Abstracts: Health Care: Current Reviews

Abstract:

The purpose of this research is to capture the multi-dimensional aspects of integrated health care delivery, to provide valuable evidence of the impact of hospital accreditation programs for performance management, as an effective external assessment scheme and to focus specifically on how following international accreditation standards and maintaining high quality of care improves performances. This research is concerned with the issue of hospitals being overwhelmed by patients as a result of the aging population, increase in chronic diseases and unhealthy lifestyles, which require appropriate management of hospital time and resources. It also addresses the lack of evidence regarding how accreditation, quality of care and performance management are interlinked, specifically in the context of Saudi Arabia, while also arguing that following national and international standards are enablers for achieving performance improvement and high quality care in Saudi hospitals. Quality management is a requirement to minimize the time people stay in hospitals and improve the efficient delivery of health care services. On the other hand, accreditation is an international mean to ensure quality of care and performance improvement. While performance improvement is mainstream in many fields, it is underdeveloped, yet highly pertinent to the healthcare sector in order to improve patient care. The study findings suggest that accreditation is directly linked to performance improvement and is essential for the quality of care in hospitals and staff regular involvement with accreditation results in acceptability of accreditation. It also suggests that management commitment and governmental support are essential for the adoption and implementation of accreditation.

Biography :

Heba Alqurashi is a final year PhD student from Brunel University, with an MSc degree from Imperial College London, in International Health Management and a BSc in Health Information Management and Technology from King Faisal University, Saudi Arabia. She is a lecturer from Najran University and a member of the Saudi Health Information Organization. Interning in different quality and information technology departments of different hospitals exposed her to how quality is adopted in hospitals, which endorsed her passion in the area of healthcare management specifically accreditation, quality and performance improvement.

Email: Heba.alqurashi@yahoo.com