I have some free time this evening here, and it’s just 9:25pm as I finish this post for you, I worked on after dinner.

I am posting this post which introduces a subject matter close to my heart, Quality in Healthcare.

In this respect, I wish to share my experiences when I managed quality management with the Pantai Group of Hospitals, by putting together relevant posts which would benefit the quality of medical records you are managing.

These posts will be specific to the process of accreditation of the International Standards for Hospitals, developed by the Joint Commission International (JCI), USA. The JCI Accreditation Standards for Hospitals has been updated, and now is in its fourth edition, effective 1 January 2011.

You already know accreditation is usually a voluntary process “in which an entity, separate and distinct from the health care organization, usually nongovernmental, assesses the health care organization to determine if it meets a set of requirements (standards) designed to improve the safety and quality of care.”* 

How is the health care organisation assessed?  What are then these  JCI standards to improve the safety and quality of care?

The standards are organised around the important functions common to all health care organisations, namely the Patient-Cantered Standards related to providing patient care, and the Health Care Organisation Management Standards – those related to providing a safe, effective, and well-managed organisation.

One must not forget that all these functions apply to the entire hospital as an organisation as well as to each department, unit, or service within the hospital.

You will also be aware of a survey process which gathers standards compliance information throughout the entire hospital, and the accreditation decision is based on the overall level of compliance found throughout the entire hospital.

I think I shall wrap up this very brief introduction on accreditation, and move on to  what I wish to share.

What I wish to share primarily is to convey in my subsequent posts on the JCI accreditation process which specifically relates to the standards relevant to the Management of Communication and Information (MCI) function, and their direct and indirect relationship to the management of medical records.

I need to tell you that these MCI standards relate to the communication process to and with the community, patients and their families, and other health professionals as well on the information about the science of care(of medicine), of individual patients, of the care provided, of the results of care, and their own performance.

 * Joint Commission International, Joint Commission International Accreditation Standards for Hospitals, page 1, 2010, U.S.A