Primary healthcare accreditation standards: a systematic review

Area of Science:

• Healthcare Management
• Quality Improvement
• International Health Systems

Background:

• Accreditation is crucial for primary healthcare (PHC) systems.
• Evaluating global PHC accreditation models is essential for quality assurance.

Purpose of the Study:

• To identify and summarize the most suitable PHC accreditation models and standards globally.
• To provide an unbiased overview of existing research on PHC accreditation.

Main Methods:

• Systematic literature search across major databases (2016, updated 2018).
• Inclusion of English-language studies on PHC accreditation models/standards (1995-2018).
• Critical appraisal and comparison of extracted accreditation standards from 19 selected studies.

Main Results:

• Identified high-quality PHC accreditation models in USA, Australia, Canada, UK, New Zealand, Jordan, Saudi Arabia, Lebanon, and Egypt.
• Jordanian, Egyptian, and Saudi models demonstrated the highest diversity in standards domains.
• Key priorities in PHC accreditation programs include community-oriented care, safe care, quality care, care continuity, and human resource management.

Conclusions:

• The study offers benchmarks for PHC accreditation and identifies high-priority domains for standards.
• Findings can assist health system managers and policymakers in designing new PHC accreditation programs.
• The research aims to promote improvements in primary healthcare service quality globally.