Dental Tourism Accreditation Organizations
When patients consider traveling abroad to have their dental treatments done, one of the primary concerns that arises is hospital selection. Among the wide offer worldwide, patients want to evaluate how safe medical treatments are and the quality of the treatment they receive. The most essential aspect to consider is the hospital accreditation. This is the starting point.
Due to the increase of medical organizations, facilities and medical tourism providers available, it is more and more important to evaluate quality standards. Accreditation of healthcare provides a solution for patients, based on hospital accreditation and the evaluation made by medical organizations.
In order to soothe these concerns, agencies and facilitators who provide full service assist medical travelers to plan their trips abroad. The services they promote to potential clients reassure several aspects that foreign facilities should have:
- Accreditation of healthcare from recognizable organizations
- Hospitals with physicians trained in Western disciplines
- Affiliation with top-standard medical organizations, facilities and university hospitals
- Access to medical state-of-the-art technologies
- Training in clinical information technologies
It is essential to note that the accreditation of healthcare is not only about how treatment is delivered, but also the quality patients receive and the follow-up. In order to selecting one specific facility, to feeling comfortable with the decision, it is mandatory to verify the standards in medical ethics, performance of their own medical personnel and safety. This institutions, hospitals and clinics should be approved as recognized by third party accreditation organizations.
Hospital Accreditation is Key
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Hospital accreditation and standardization is a vital component in any well-ordered society. It has been defined by the academic community as an external assessment and self-assessment process, in relation to established standards, to accurately assess the level of performance and the implement action plans to improve.
Quality assurance, evidence-based medicine and medical ethics are key factors for accreditation organizations to maintain patient safety. There are two types of accreditation procedures:
- National accreditation for hospitals and healthcare organizations.
- International accreditation.
Patient Safety
Patience safety is an objective of health and medical sciences that put emphasis on registry, analysis and prevention of failure in attention given by sanitary services, which frequently result in adverse incidents. Unfortunately, this malpractice puts patients at risk, and in many cases involves health professionals. Although some of these adverse effects are unavoidable they serve as an incentive for medical institutions to promote programs oriented towards the improvement of patient clinical security.
Patients who are looking for medical treatment abroad should consider the approved regulations and certification granted by medical organizations. This is a most valuable tool in order to pinpoint with confidence the best institutions.
Medical Ethics
Every professional operating in the medical sciences should take into account these fundamental principles:
- Beneficence in the best interest of the patient
- Autonomy or the patient’s right to choose the treatment
- “First do not harm”
- Justice in terms of fair and equal distribution of health resources
Medical tourism requires a strong presence of accreditation of healthcare due to a certain amount of unethical situations. There has been an increase in the demand for low-cost insurance products in this rapidly developing market as well as for medical travel websites, associations and agencies that help patients to find hospitals abroad.
So it is necessary for the patient to research and observe that the lack of accreditation might have deep consequences, not only in the outcome of the treatment itself but also in the quality of the service. Ask for more providers; check the doctors and the hospital’s background and the accreditation from medical organizations.
International Healthcare Accreditation
It’s a very complex and delicate process. As a universal desire for safe and quality healthcare, it affects all aspects of society, with medical, political, ethical, social and financial implications.
People are expecting great responsibility from healthcare organizations and the trend is especially strong in developed countries. Patients in the European Union have increasingly high expectation and an average citizen nowadays is surprisingly well informed when it comes to quality standards. As a consequence medical tourism is emerging as a strong option for citizens who are looking for affordable and quality treatments.
The purpose of healthcare and hospital accreditation is on the one hand, to improve the means by which care is delivered, on the other hand, to improve patient safety. In accreditation, the role of the World Health Organization is of paramount significance.
International accreditation organizations aim to provide assessment tools to improve and develop healthcare organizations services based on external standards. It assures quality in the services not only for patients, but also for the staff and the providers. Some of the benefits are:
- Standards of medical procedures
- Quality Monitoring of healthcare services
- Development of personnel in medical sciences
- Creates dynamic environments for efficient communication
- Networking between medical institutions
- Contacts overseas
The medical tourism market is increasing and therefore new challenges arise. Those specific needs from overseas patients need to be managed in order to assure quality during all the phases of the treatment.
Operational levels differ widely among countries, based on language barriers and legal issues, but accreditation ensures liability in legal medical aspects, in the country that receives patients from abroad. It establishes medical tourism clusters, including hospitals, hotels, and governments to improve services. And last but not least, it gives assurance to patients in terms of assessment and provision of healthcare services.
So who are these accreditation organizations?
JCI Accreditation
ISO Certification
ISQua
Trent Accreditation Scheme (TAS)
ACHSI Certification
Accreditation Canada
American Medical Association
The Commission on Accreditation of Rehabilitation Facilities (CARF)
The Malaysian Society for Quality in Health (MSQH)
Quality Council of India (QCI)
National Accreditation Board for Hospitals & Healthcare Providers (NABH)
Singapore Accreditation Council (SAC)
Health Sciences Authority (Singapore)
ISAPS
AABB Accreditation
