Hospital Accreditation: A solution for developing countries challenges or a challenge for the hospitals?

Abstract

Background Inasmuch as accreditation is of great significance for hospitals, this study aimed to explain the accreditation challenges of Iranian hospitals through a content analysis approach. Methods A qualitative study was run through the content analysis method in 2018. 19 semi-structured interviews were conducted with experts and data were saturated in this level. To increase the accuracy and precision of the study, Guba and Lincoln’s four criteria including credibility, dependability, conformability and transferability were used. MAX QDA10 was used for data analysis via 5-step framework analysis approach. Results The findings of the interview analysis led to the identification of 5 main themes and 29 subthemes. The main themes included macro problems and policy making, evaluators' problems, structural and process problems, executive problems, and problems with the accreditation measures. Conclusion The results shed light on the fact that Iranian hospitals need to experience major changes in applying accreditation as a quality assurance mechanism. In other words, it seems necessary for policy makers affiliated with Ministry of Health and Medical education to revise accreditation measures according to hospital needs and try to clarify the structure and executive process of the accreditation. Moreover, improving and standardizing the evaluators` skills is recommended.