KUCHING: Normah Medical Specialist Centre (NMSC) was recently awarded the Joint Commission lnternational’s Gold Seal of Approval for Hospital Accreditation.
This awarded accreditation was due to NMSC’s continuous compliance with its internationally-recognised standards.
The Gold Seal of Approval is a symbol of quality that reflects NMSC commitment to continuously providing safe and effective patient care for local and international patients.
Speaking during a press conference on Joint Commission International (JCI) Healthcare Accreditation for Quality & Safety at Normah Medical Specialist Centre here, NMSC Medical Director, Dr Willliam Chau said NMSC is pleased to receive accreditation from JCI, the premier healthcare quality improvement and accrediting body in the world.
“NMSC is now the Top 5 hospital in whole Malaysia and in Kuching, we are the only hospital that is JCI accredited,” he pointed out.
He also said that staff from across the hospital continue to work together to develop and implement approaches and strategies that have the potential to improve care for the patients in the community.
Joint Commission International accreditation provides hospital with processes contributing to improvements in a variety of areas from the enhancement of staff education to the demonstration of leading practices within the hospital setting.
It is an effort for NMSC to become a quality improvement organisation and achieving this pinnacle is demonstrating a commitment to patients’ safety and quality.
Joint Commission International is an independent, not-for-profit organisation that accredits and certifies nearly 21,000 health care organisations and programmes in the United States.
Joint Commission accreditation and certification is recognised in the US as a symbol of quality that reflects an organisation’s commitment to meeting certain performance standards.
NMSC has undergone a rigorous on site survey for a week at the end of last May and early June this year.
Joint Commission lnternational’s hospital standards are developed in consultation with the worldwide healthcare experts and providers, measurement experts and patients.
The standards are informed by scientific literature and expert consensus to help organisations measure, asses and improve performance.
During the survey exercise , a team of Joint Commission International (JCI) experts surveyors evaluated compliance with hospital standard related to variety of areas, including the International Patients Safety Goals, patients’ assessment and care, anesthesia and surgical care, medication management, patient and family education, quality improvement, infection and prevention control, governance and leadership, facility management, staff qualifications and education and information management.
International patients’ safety goals for example, are a series of specific actions that accredited organisations are required to take in order to prevent medical errors such as miscommunication among caregivers, prevention of healthcare-associated infections and medication errors.
A panel of international safety experts has determined that taking these simple, proven steps will reduce the frequency of devastating medical errors.
Being the pioneer in private healthcare industries in Sarawak for the past 29 years, it is an achievement for NMSC to have such a prestigious recognition internationally.
Achieving JCl accreditation implies that, that international hospital is giving their same standard of quality of care and safety to their patients in the hospital as a hospital in the United States.
