Accreditation
Accreditation is the process that ensures that all practices are acceptable. This is achieved by peer evaluation and more importantly testing and calibration by a third party. By becoming an accredited facility companies can evaluate themselves and see where their strengths and weaknesses lie. Accreditation publicly promotes the company’s commitment to safety, which can lead to improved client outcomes and more satisfied customers. Overall completing accreditation is a positive thing for whoever chooses to do so.
Who can become accredited?
Different places that can become accredited are, community health centers such as home care, primary care, community rehabilitation, and hospitals. Dentistry offices such as general dentistry, sleep dentistry, endodontists, oral and maxillofacial surgeons, and orthodontists. Any seniors care facilities can be accredited as well.
Why should accreditation be completed?
There are many benefits to become accredited. Aside from what has already been mentioned above it can reduce costs for the facility by shifting liability to the third party chosen to take care of their equipment. It reduces costs by identifying where areas of additional funding are and aren’t needed, giving leverage to support negotiation for the funding. Accreditation also provides an opportunity for team building amongst all floors and improves the understanding of everyone’s role within the organization. A short list of accreditation boards that we have worked with before are:
- Accreditation Canada
- Canadian Federation of Chiropractic Regulatory and Educational Accrediting Board
- College of Physiotherapist in Ontario
- Committee on Accreditation of Canadian Medical Schools (CACMS)
- Resident Doctors of Canada (RDoC)
- Royal College of Dental Surgeons of Ontario (RCDSO)
What is the process of accreditation?
The process of accreditation begins with a self-review of the institution based on the accrediting organizations standards. Next, the peer review is held by administrators, faculty and members of the public. Following the self-review comes the site visit conducted by the accrediting organization; during this process the results of all of the standards are completed where they can be reviewed and corrected in the next step of the process. This process is the action or judgment where the facility carries out the suggestions supplied by the accrediting organization. The final part of the process is where the facility is monitored and more site visits are scheduled anywhere from 4-10 years.
What is the Biomedical Equipment Requirements?
The typical requirement for biomedical equipment in a health care facility is that the equipment is tested on a yearly basses and is repaired properly when required. This means that each facility has one year to complete the maintenance on their equipment which is designed by 15 days before or after the date in which it was last inspected. TRH Services, Computer Maintenance Management System is setup to monitor when your equipment is due for service to ensure that everything is tested within these standards. The next requirement is the reporting process for equipment, and our Computer Maintenance Management System is setup to create the reports that any accreditation service is looking for. The reports that our system generates range from reports on a specific equipment, to reports for a specific area, to reports for your entire facility. Whatever the report that accreditation service is looking for TRH Services is able to provide it to you.
Value of TRH Services
By choosing to use TRH Services to test and maintain your equipment we are equipped to handle all accreditation process’s set forth in Ontario. These can range from the Royal College of Dental Surgeons of Ontario (RCDSO) to Ontario Physiotherapy Association. We have worked hand in hand to help a number of Retirement homes and Hospitals gain their accreditation certificates by providing them with a reliable standardized biomedical program that meets the needs of the accreditation programs. If you are not sure what your accreditation needs are for your biomedical equipment we can provide consultation services to your facility to assist with report writing to help you through the tough accreditation process.
Written By: Greg Kishimoto
Edited By: Tyler Hasenpflug CET