Contributions of accreditation organizations in health services to the accreditation process: a bibliometric analysis

The purpose of this study is to investigate the concept of accreditation in terms of Accreditation Bodies in Health (ABIH) through a bibliometric analysis.

Co-citation, co-occurrence and co-authorship analyses were performed on 465 academic publications selected from the Web of Science database focusing on health accreditation bodies. The analyses were conducted using R-based Bibliometrix software, Python and Microsoft Excel.

The co-citation analysis identified seven themes: "Prevention of Clinical Errors and Patient Safety: Guidelines for Accreditation Bodies," "Accreditation and Multidimensional Impacts on Healthcare Quality," "Multidimensional Assessment of Hospital Quality in the United States: Standardization, Regulation, and Accreditation," "Quality Assessment in Health Care: Theoretical Foundations and Personnel Management," "The Complex Dynamics of Accreditation in Health Care: Analyzing Quality, Cost, and Performance," "Quality and Performance Measurement in Health Care," and "Accreditation and Pain Management." Co-occurrence analyses revealed themes such as "Clinical Safety and Child Health," "Beliefs and Ethical Issues," "Patient Safety and System Errors," "Guidelines and Risk Management," "Quality and Performance Management," and "Clinical Practice and Health Services."

The findings highlight the complexity of thematic categories and key issues in the literature on the contribution of accreditation bodies to the accreditation process in healthcare, which can inform policymakers and practitioners.

This study provides a comprehensive bibliometric analysis of accreditation bodies in health, offering valuable insights into thematic clusters and contributing to the existing body of knowledge on healthcare accreditation.