International accreditation for UMC Utrecht

Source：UMC Utrecht Release Date：2013-07-19 312

Medical Equipment

Worldwide, less than 5% of all hospitals manage to get Joint Commission International (JCI) accreditation on their first attempt

UTRECHT – The University Medical Center Utrecht (UMC Utrecht) is the first hospital in the Netherlands to be awarded international JCI accreditation on their first attempt according to the latest standard. As part of the accreditation procedure, the hospital was tested on more than 1,400 aspects of the quality of care, research and education. Worldwide, less than 5% of all hospitals manage to get accredited on their first attempt.
Joint Commission International (JCI) is a WHO-certified organization that tests care institutions around the world. As part of the accreditation, JCI auditors repeatedly visit the hospitals. Last week, they spent six days paying surprise visits to the various departments of UMC Utrecht. Dr Enrico Baldatoni, team leader of the JCI audit committee, complimented UMC Utrecht as a whole, saying that “he was proud that UMC Utrecht and JCI are partners in meeting international quality and patient safety standards.” Compliments also went to the 125-year-old Wilhelmina Children’s Hospital (part of UMC Utrecht), the most child-friendly children’s hospital that the JCI audit committee said they had ever seen.

UMC Utrecht is one of the largest public healthcare institutions in the Netherlands, and aims to be a leading university medical centre internationally, a centre where knowledge about health, disease and healthcare is generated, validated, shared and applied. UMC Utrecht is part of the NFU, the Dutch Federation of University Medical Centres.
JCI uses the tracer method, with inspectors tracing a patient’s processing through the organisation: from the intake by telephone to contact with the receptionist, admission and treatment, and including the entire follow-up process. JCI looks at direct patient care, including aspects of hygiene, medication safety, prevention of infections and safety during surgery. Prof Dr Jan Kimpen, chairman of the UMC Utrecht Executive Board, says, “To us, this accreditation just goes to show that we’re doing well when it comes to the quality of the care we provide. It means that patients can rest assured that they receive the best possible care at UMC Utrecht - we’ve proved that much with this accreditation.”

Education and research
JCI also examines other aspects, such as equipment maintenance, food safety and emergency response capability. All in all, UMC Utrecht was teNike Zoom Vomero 14