Accreditation Definition

The process of declaring by designated authority that an organization, service or individual has demonstrated competency, authority and/or credibility to meet a predetermined set of standards is called Accreditation. It is also a mechanism that seeks to reassure external stock holders that quality and safety standards are demonstrated. A secondary and more recent goal in some applications, notably health care, is to provide a basis for quality improvement initiatives. Accreditation is an element in a network of activities that seeks to regulate conduct in the health sector. Health organizations, and individual professionals, are networked together, and their behavior is assessed by independent bodies through accreditation programs, standards,

Communities were growing quickly, and quality standards needed to be set for organizations meeting public needs, such as health care and education. “In the 1800s, higher education was gaining ground in the United States, but there were few standards in place to determine the educational quality of an institution and distinguish one school from the next “(emba.com, 2018). Accreditation of colleges and universities evolved because students and school officials needed a process to define which campuses met traditionally held standards of educational quality. There was also a growing need to develop national standards for the transfer of credits between foreign institutions and U.S. schools. Also accreditation in health was “first initiated in the United States through the work of the American College of Surgeons, which in 1917 developed the Minimum Standards for Hospitals. This organization subsequently collaborated with colleges and associations from the United States and Canada to create, in 1951, the Joint Commission on Accreditation of Hospitals” (Sollecito, 2018), which is now referred to as The Joint Commission. From this beginning, accreditation has spread to be practiced across the world. A few figures highlight the global extent and reach of accreditation. Accreditation is now practiced in more than seventy

Governments, insurers, and consumers, via industry groups and voicing community expectations more generally, seek to be reassured that organizations are making efforts to achieve published standards or address quality and safety. The choice many organizations have is not whether to participate but with which accrediting agency and program they will be associated. Rigidity or flexibility of accreditation programs; An issue that is confused with the question of voluntary or mandated programs is the rigidity and flexibility within a program. Some accreditation programs have been shown to be rigid and flexible at the same time. Research contrasting two programs, one mandated and the other voluntary, found that both programs incorporated compulsory and flexible elements. There were positive impacts from both the mandated and voluntary programs, and it was noted that there was a convergence of the two approaches. Financial costs to address quality and safety issues; Addressing quality and safety issues incurs costs, through consuming organizational resources and requiring health professionals’ time. Where accreditation is not considered part of an organization’s ongoing or