STAR HOSPITALS  a Hyderabad based 130 bedded tertiary health care facility is accorded NABH accreditation  National Accreditation Board for Hospitals and Health care providers   The certificate will be presented to Star Hospitals in a function to be held in September
Star Hospitals is the 78th hospital in the country and 5th in Andhra Pradesh to have NABH Accreditation informed Dr  Gopichand Mannam  Chief Cardiothoracic Surgeon   MD in a press note issued in city today  Across the globe there is a growing demand for quality healthcare services  That has called for a closer look at the healthcare delivery systems and the necessity to introduce quality assurance mechanisms  The accreditation of hospitals assumes particular significance in this context  Accreditation relies on establishing technical competence of healthcare organisations in terms of certain standards in delivering services  With NABH Accreditation choosing the right hospital becomes easy  Because NABH awards Accreditation after strict scrutiny of many aspects of hospital and patient care management  he informed
Stating further  Dr  Gopichand added that besides infrastructure  it is important for the patient to know that the hospital follows documented process for its healthcare services  Patient care goes beyond just clinical areas  Support activities such as test  medicines  nursing care  infection control practices  training and many more such things count a lot  A quality conscious hospital should define all such activities internally  document the same  and impart necessary training to the staff  These documented activities include detailed job responsibilities  work instructions  checklists and quality indicators for the staff to follow
So how will the patient know about these processes  How do patients know these details  Where are these details available   Do they enquire with hospital   Patients attendants are not educated enough to understand many processes hospitals follow  Accreditation is the key  It ensures and certifies that NABH Accredited hospital strictly adheres to the laid down practices and guidelines  So a patient who visits a NABH accredited hospital is reassured that he or she is provided with safest and scientific based processes and procedures
NABH has designed an exhaustive healthcare standard for hospitals and healthcare providers in the country  This standard consists of stringent 500 plus objective elements for the hospital to achieve in order to get the NABH accreditation  To comply with these standard elements  the hospital will need to have a process driven approach in all aspects of hospital activities from registration  admission  pre surgery  peri surgery and post surgery protocols  medication procedures  discharge from the hospital to follow up with the hospital after discharge including 24 x7 emergency care  And we are happy that Star Hospitals has passed and lived upto the NABH s strict procedures  informed Dr  Gopichand
NABH Accreditation helps patients in all aspects such as their rights  respect for personal dignity  privacy during examination  right to refusal to treatment  information on how to voice complaint  access to his   her clinical records  ensuring quality investigations and many such things  It helps hospital managements  staff  patients  their attendants
Medical Standards are the need of the hour  Unfortunately  not much emphasis is laid on those standards  NABH really helps hospitals go for high standard health care  It distinguishes quality hospital from the rest