IWK Health is pleased to announce that it has been Accredited with Exemplary Standing following a thorough assessment by surveyors from Accreditation Canada, the major national accrediting body for health services organizations across Canada.
Health care accreditation helps identify what an organization is doing well and where to focus improvement efforts.
The IWK was applauded for strengths across the organization, such as its caring, dedicated staff and physicians, patient and family satisfaction, community support and partnerships, engaged leadership team, willingness to learn and openness to feedback, and ability to put research learnings into practice on the frontlines.
“Accreditation provides us with the opportunity to be evaluated using nationally accepted standards of excellence,” says Dr. Krista Jangaard, President and CEO of IWK Health. “This rating affirms the hard work of our staff to go above and beyond the requirements and continuously improve the care we provide to our patients, families and community.”
An organization may receive one of four possible decisions: Not Accredited, Accredited, Accredited with Commendation, or Accredited with Exemplary Standing.
“Being Accredited with Exemplary Standing once again is a remarkable accomplishment for IWK Health. Our care teams have reaffirmed IWK’s dedication and commitment to an organizational culture that prides itself on the highest level of care for children, women and families across the Maritimes,” says Kim Allain, Director, Quality, Patient Safety and Patient Experience at IWK Health. “Patients and families can have confidence that as IWK continues along in our accreditation journey, meeting or exceeding the highest standards of quality and safety in health care services and organizational practices will remain a top priority. This is something we can all be proud of.”
Accreditation provides health care and service organizations an independent, third-party assessment of their organization using standards built upon best practices used and validated by similar organizations around the world. Participation is voluntary and conducted every four years.