It goes without saying that concern for patients and professionalism play a vital role and are supposed to be enough for the delivery of high-quality health care. However, experience has taught that while the human nature of ones is to prefer doing things without being told what and how to do them, the nature of others tells them to skip things if they are not told to do (Wachter & Gupta, 2018). That is why more prescriptive solutions and standards from authoritative organizations, including regulations and accreditation, are required to guarantee patients’ safety and appropriate outcomes.
Regulations may be defined as specific rules and compliance with them is mandatory. Failure to follow regulations generally results in stiff penalties. In the present day, no single entity has a right to establish regulations, and the main regulatory authorities related to the control of patient safety and wellbeing are state governments (Wachter & Gupta, 2018). In addition, there are federal regulations and cities’ local safety-related regulations as well.
In turn, accreditation is a less potent approval from an independent accrediting body that confirms the competency of a person or an organization in carrying out specific tasks and meeting specific standards. Regardless of having different sources, in practice, accreditation requirements are frequently no less essential than regulations. In general, health care providers are subject to accreditation standards and regulations as they require a license for practice (Wachter & Gupta, 2018).
As a health care professional, I am particularly interested in working in a medical facility accredited by the Joint Commission, the most important organization of this king in the field of patient safety. Its standards are “the basis of an objective evaluation process that can help health care organizations measure, assess, and improve performance” (The Joint Commission, n.d.). In addition, they are informed by expert consensus and scientific literature and developed together with health care providers, consumers, government agencies, and subject matter experts.
References
The Joint Commission. (n.d.). About our standards. The Joint Commission. Web.
Wachter, R., & Gupta, K. (2018). Understanding patient safety (3rd ed.). McGraw-Hill Education.