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Abu Dhabi /Â WAM
A new benchmark for patient care has been set by Cleveland Clinic Abu Dhabi, part of Mubadala’s network of world-class healthcare providers, as the medical campus announced it has earned the prestigious Joint Commission International’s (JCI) Gold Seal of Approval for hospital accreditation after only 18 months of operations. The award is a global symbol of quality that reflects an organization’s commitment to providing safe and effective patient care.
With the UAE healthcare sector set to continue its rapid growth in the coming decades and some experts estimating that the total UAE healthcare market will reach US$19.5 billion by 2020 due to the rise of non-communicable diseases and growing healthcare expenditure, patient safety is a major priority for healthcare institutions in the country. Accreditation by recognized international institutions such as JCI is crucial to drive compliance and improve quality and cost-effectiveness across the healthcare system by developing evidence-based standardized methods and measures to identify errors and reduce adverse events that occur in hospitals.
Accreditation has become a priority for healthcare hubs around the world, with many countries moving toward making accreditation mandatory. By 2020, only accredited healthcare providers will be allowed to operate in the UAE, aligned with the country’s vision to develop a world-class healthcare sector following international standards. The UAE currently leads the world with the highest number of accredited organizations, and progressing toward international accreditation for all healthcare facilities.
In line with Cleveland Clinic Abu Dhabi’s ‘Patient First’ philosophy, the Quality & Patient Safety Institute leads the hospital’s quality efforts, promoting effective, efficient and safe healthcare, and setting safety and quality benchmarks through strategic systems improvement, clinical culture and innovation.
Expert surveyors from JCI carried out a rigorous evaluation of Cleveland Clinic Abu Dhabi’s hospital standards across emergency management, environment of care, infection prevention and control, leadership and medication management.
The surveyors assessed Cleveland Clinic Abu Dhabi on more than 1,000 combined standards and measurable elements and found that the hospital was compliant with standards, scoring particularly highly in the areas of International Patient Safety Goals, Access to Care & Continuity of Care, Patient & Family Rights, Patient & Family Education, and Quality and Patient Safety.