First Caribbean Region Hospital Earns JCI Accreditation

The first hospital in the Caribbean region has achieved international accreditation from Joint Commission International (JCI), USA, the worldwide leader in improving the quality of health care. Doctors Hospital in Nassau, The Bahamas, joins an elite group of hospitals worldwide, which have passed JCI’s stringent clinical quality standards.

Joint Commission International (JCI) is the global arm of the U.S.-based Joint Commission on the Accreditation of Healthcare Organizations (JCAHO); the same body that certifies over 18,000 hospitals in the United States. The surveyors are highly trained certified experts who are doctors, nurses, hospital administrators, laboratory medical technologists, or other health care professionals.

The distinction certifies that the hospital’s programs meet international standards and follow the latest U.S. clinical guidelines. Having a JCI accreditation signifies that Doctors Hospital demonstrates a high quality of patient care and patient safety and also has an ongoing program for continuous improvement. “Health care organizations around the world want to create environments that focus on quality, safety, and continuous improvement,” said Karen Timmons, chief executive officer, Joint Commission International. “Accreditation meets this demand by stimulating continuous, systematic improvements in an organization’s performance and the outcomes of patient care.”

The JCI accreditation was awarded to Doctors Hospital after a rigorous onsite evaluation by an international surveyor team of health care experts (Hospital Administrator, Physician, and Nurse). The surveyors spent four days interviewing staff and hospital leaders on policies and procedures, looking in detail at hospital care and patient safety for individual patients. In addition, they surveyed each department individually. The physical plant of the hospital, the equipment, and the services, were all subjects for evaluation. Focus was also placed on aspects such as patient rights, medication management, bedside policies and procedures, surgical infection, credentialing of medical staff and nurses, leadership of the organization, and many others.

The accreditation recognizes that the practices of doctors, nurses, medical assistants, and the management team at Doctors Hospital meet or exceed the standards of medical facilities in the United States.