Nurses' Awareness Regarding Accreditation Standards in Health Insurance Hospital Affiliated to Dakahlia Governorate

Abstract

In recent years, formal systems of quality management have been progressively introduced, such as certification according to the ISO-9000 Norms, the system of accreditation standards of the Joint Commission on Accreditation of Healthcare Organizations (JCAHO) and the European Model of Excellence (EFQM). Accreditation standards can be defined as the process of external evaluation to which a health organization is subjected, based on a review of certain accepted criteria and standards. The accreditation standards processes are influenced by the nursing actions and at the same time have important implications in the work of the team. The aim of this study was to assess nurses' awareness regarding accreditation standards in Health Insurance Hospital in Dakahlia Governorate. This descriptive study was carried out at Mansoura Health Insurance Hospital, in Dakahlia governorate on 121 nurses. A self-administered questionnaire was used to collect data about nurses’ personal characteristics, their knowledge of accreditation standards as well as their related attitudes. The tool was validated by experts’ opinions and its reliability Summary 116 examined through a pilot study. The data collection process lasted from June to December 2012. The main study findings revealed the following.  Nurses’ age ranged between 20 and 50 years, 39.7% had a nursing school diploma, and 39.7% a bachelor degree; their experience years ranged between <1 to 13 years.  Only 34.7% of the nurses had previously attended training courses, and 24.8% had orientation in accreditation standards.  The percentages of nurses with satisfactory knowledge about accreditation standards criteria were highest for patient care (76%) and administration (74.4%), and lowest (36.4%) about patient safety.  Overall, 73.6% of the nurses had satisfactory total knowledge about the accreditation standards criteria.  The percentages of nurses with positive attitudes towards accreditation standards were high, reaching 95.9% for the cofactors of adoption; conversely, only 29.8% had positive attitudes towards wages and bonuses