Evaluation results of national hospital accreditation program in Iran: The view of hospital managers

Resultados de la evaluación del programa nacional de acreditación hospitalaria en IránBackground: Accreditation programs have a crucial role in improving the safety and effectiveness of hospital services. Many factors contribute to achieve accreditation goals. This study evaluated the national Iranian hospital accreditation program from the view of hospital managers in Iran. Methods: The study was conducted in 2015 using a validated questionnaire designed to collect feedback concerning accreditation processes and impacts. In total, 547 managers were surveyed using a stratified random sampling method. A 5-degree scale Likert from totally disagree = 1 to totally agree = 5 has been used for the evaluation. Descriptive and inferential statistics were used to analyze the data. Results: Approximately half of hospital managers were satisfied with the accreditation standards and surveying methods. The reason for their dissatisfaction was the high number of measures (2.38). The main challenges to the accreditation method were reported inadequate surveyor training (2.94) their satisfaction with the infrastructure was low because of a lack of hospital resources. Nonetheless, the accreditation program was perceived as being successful in improving patient safety (3.80), patient compliance (3.72), and error reduction (3.53). Conclusion: An effective accreditation program requires reducing the number of standards and making them clearer as well as the infrastructure for the implementation of accreditation such as sufficient and sustainable funds, enough human resources and equipment should be provided. Appropriate surveyors should be selected and trained professionally to ensure inter-rater reliability among them.