The hospital meets stringent quality standards

Westside Surgical Hospital recently earned national accreditation from the DNV organization, recognizing the hospital’s commitment to quality and safety in providing patient care. DNV accreditation is awarded only after the entire hospital staff and work processes are surveyed by DNV auditors to ensure the facility meets its quality standards.

Just as physicians, nurses, lab techs and other staff at a hospital undergo rigorous training and testing to qualify for their work — so must a hospital as a whole demonstrate that it meets a set of quality standards. The DNV is one of two independent accrediting organizations for hospitals in the U.S. that conducts these surveys.

“Their quality standards are very high,” says Deby Preston, chief nursing officer at WSH. “The DNV approach to surveys is about finding the best way to continually improve patient care. We all learn a lot in preparing for these surveys and in going through them. Even when you are very good at what you do, you want to look for opportuniities to get even better.”

The WSH staff embraced the opportunity to explain their jobs and work process to the surveyors and then listened to the observations and suggestions offered. DNV yearly surveys are designed to encourage innovative approaches to the work process, making it easier for WSH to meet all of a patient’s needs while under the hospital’s care. WSH is on track to earn a quality credential from DNV showing it meets an international standard of quality management, called ISO 9001 certification.

“Westside Surgical Hosptial has a mission to provide excellent patient care,” says Preston. “These surveys prompt us to do even more.”