WIT Press Release
Title: Doctoral research on hospital accreditation presented at WIT
Release date: Tue, Apr 01, 2008
Dr Brigid M Milner today (Tuesday, April 1), presented the results of her PhD Research on the subject of acute care hospital accreditation to the library at Waterford Institute of Technology.
The research specifically focused on the implementation process and impacts associated with healthcare accreditation for acute care hospitals.
Explaining the background to her research, Dr Milner said that accreditation is recognised as the central vehicle for the improvement of healthcare services in Ireland and internationally and involves the assessment of work and organisational practices against predefined standards, conducted by multidisciplinary clinical and support services teams.
"Accreditation at this level involves a process of identifying risks and opportunities for development and enhancement of health services. Compliance with specific standards is evaluated by an external team of surveyors and, on the basis of this, an accreditation rating is arrived at for the organisation," said Dr Milner.
Dr Milner's research highlighted the experiences of clinical and support services team members in a large acute care hospital during the first phase of accreditation. Results showed a range of distinct challenges to the implementation process and, in particular, the absence of active engagement of certain employee groups within multidisciplinary teams.
Receiving the research, Prof Kieran R Byrne, Director, Waterford Institute of Technology, said that the study was valuable in that it demonstrated the challenges associated with attempting to implement change within a large public sector organisation while simultaneously continuing to provide on-going services within a demanding context.
Prof Byrne said that Dr Milner's research had, however, also demonstrated a number of positive impacts arising from hospital accreditation.
"Dr Milner's research highlights the benefits and inherent potential of an acute care hospital accreditation scheme in terms of individual employee development, the improvement of working relationships and the movement towards a standards-based culture," he added.
"In presenting her doctoral thesis to our library, Dr Milner adds to its deposits of intellectual capital and further enhances the hard-won reputation of this Institute for research excellence."