Gearing up for Accreditation 2018

MAHC is counting down the days until our 2018 Accreditation Canada survey in early December. Our teams have been busy gearing up for this external review where independent surveyors come to our sites to assess and measure our services and practices against national and international standards of excellence.

Hospitals voluntarily participate in the Accreditation Canada program to help ensure they are providing the best standards of care through a survey cycle every four years. Participating in the accreditation process is about constantly improving the quality of care we provide to patients by ensuring we are meeting national standards of care and receiving recommendations on how we can improve. These standards examine all aspects of health care – from patient safety and ethics, to staff education and training, governance and partnering with the community.

During our Accreditation Canada survey, surveyors will measure Muskoka Algonquin Healthcare against specific Required Organizational Practices within more than 100 best-in-class standards established by the Health Standards Organization. Required Organizational Practices are an essential practice that organizations must have in place to enhance patient safety and minimize risk. These are categorized into six patient safety areas, each with its own goal, as follows:

Safety Culture: Create a culture of safety within the organization;

Communication: Promote effective information transfer with clients and team members across the continuum of care;

Medication Use: Ensure the safe use of high-risk medications;

Worklife/Workforce: Create a worklife and physical environment that supports the safe delivery of care and service;

Infection Control: Reduce the risk of health care-associated infections and their impact across the continuum of care; and

Risk Assessment: Identify and mitigate safety risks inherent in the client population.

To achieve an ‘Accredited’ decision, an organization must meet a minimum of 80% of all criteria, and a minimum of 70% of high-priority criteria and Required Organizational Practices in every standard set.

Participating in the accreditation process demonstrates our commitment to meeting best-practice standards and ensuring safe, high-quality patient care. It’s about quality improvement, every day, with everyone who walks through our doors. Accreditation has evolved to focus greater importance on the patient voice and this is very much in line with our own focus at MAHC to centre care around patients and families.

We are looking forward to meeting the four surveyors who will be with us December 3-7, 2018. While they are here, they will be engaging with our staff and physicians, and even patients and families to test our compliance.

Our theme for Accreditation 2018 was chosen through a contest where staff submitted ideas. The winning idea was modeled after the 2018 Olympic Winter Games. As part of our internal promotion, we adapted the Olympic motto “Citius, Altius, Fortius”, which is Latin for “Faster, Higher, Stronger”. We at MAHC have been working toward “safer care, higher standards, stronger teamwork” so that your time with us is the best it can possibly be.