Accreditation of hospitals affiliated to Iran University of Medical Sciences: Nurses perspective (Short-Communication)

National accreditation standards could improve both quality of services and the patient safety. This study aimed to investigate the accreditation status from the perspective of nurses working in hospitals affiliated to Iran University of Medical Sciences.

This was a cross-sectional study conducted in 9 hospitals affiliated to Iran University of Medical Sciences in 2018 and 365 nurses with at least 5-years clinical work experiences were selected by simple random sampling. Data were collected using a 54-item questionnaire that included 9 dimensions of quality, leadership, commitment and support, strategic quality planning, quality management, staff training, reward, use of data, staff involvement and benefits of accreditation. All statistical analysis was performed by SPSS-22 software using descriptive statistics.

The overall score of accreditation status in the present study was 3.0±0.7 that among its dimensions, the highest mean score (3.3±0.8) and the lowest mean score (2.7±0.8) was related to the ‘staff involvement’ and ‘staff training’, respectively.

In order to better implement accreditation program of healthcare organizations, policies to reduce the number of metrics and making them more transparent seems necessary. In addition, providing desirable training for staff and giving them the financial and non-financial rewards are recommended.