Accreditation

There are a number of obligations related to patient safety outlined in the law that are required to be met by all health care organizations across the province of Quebec.  Among those responsibilities is to receive regular and ongoing visits from a wide array of evaluative organizations, including professional organizations and governmental bodies.

Accreditation Canada

One of the most important visits is from Accreditation Canada, a not-for-profit, independent organization that has been providing national and international health care organizations with an external peer review process to assess and improve the services they provide to their patients and clients based on standards of excellence since 1958.  Currently, there are 869 accredited organizations across Canada. 

Accreditation Canada introduced a new accreditation program called Qmentum in 2008. Based on the latest research and evidence and extensive feedback from clients, reviewers, board members and staff, Qmentum emphasizes health system performance, risk prevention planning, client safety, performance measurement, and governance. 

Accreditation Canada www.accreditation.ca

 

Final results reveal that out of 2357 criteria, the MUHC met 2172, i.e. 92.2% in compliance with accreditation standards
The MUHC & Accreditation                                       

The MUHC has a long history of being accredited by Accreditation Canada. In 2010, the MUHC participated in the Qmentum accreditation program and was recognized as being 92.2% in compliance with accreditation standards.

 

Dr. Arthur Porter sent a message to MUHC staff and employees after learning the preliminary results of the first Qmentum accreditation visit on October 1, 2010.   

“Your People Are Your Gift to This Community”

“I cannot think of a better way to begin sharing the preliminary findings of our first Qmentum accreditation visit than these eight words expressed to senior management earlier today by Janet Knox, Accreditation Canada Team Leader as well as President and CEO of Annapolis Valley District Health Authority in Kentville, Nova Scotia. Mrs. Knox and the team of 13 surveyors, who travelled from Halifax and Vancouver and hometowns in between to spend the week with us, re-emphasized that point to a packed audience of more than 500 clinicians and staff at noon in the MGH’s Osler Amphitheatre and to participants watching by videoconference across our sites.  

She underscored that we have a strong sense of purpose, an equally tremendous esprit de corps, and without a doubt a culture of patient-centricity, quality and safety embedded right down to our vision, mission and values. On behalf of her team, she thanked all of us—as did I then and now again for those unable to be present—for sharing liberally what we do and the pride with which we endeavour to serve the interests of our patients and their families, our leading practices and also our challenges. Creative, engaged, passionate, proud, inquiring, inter-disciplinary, and resourceful: these were some of the other words used to describe our people and our initiatives.  

From one-stop and just-in-time services, cutting-edge re-engineering using IT tools and devices, an evidence-informed research agenda and countless opportunities, we have much to celebrate at the McGill University Health Centre. Out of 2,357 criteria, we met 2,172 or  92.2 per cent. We are told that this is a rare accomplishment for an academic health centre but the MUHC has done this despite space, human resources, patient flow, fiscal, transition and other challenges. You should all be very proud, just like I am, to be a part of the MUHC.”
– Dr. Arthur T. Porter

 

Results of the 2010 Qmentum Accreditation visit  

Here is an overview of the strengths and challenges identified by Accreditation Canada following its review of the MUHC:

MUHC Strengths

  • A patient-centred focus organization
  • The people working at the MUHC
  • A focus on healthy workplace
  • A strong focus on interdisciplinary care
  • Numerous examples of clinical excellence
  • A strong culture of inquiry and innovation
  • Examples of leading edge of technology
  • A focus on education 
  • Recruitment and retention program
  • Environment friendly disposal of demolition waste


MUHC Accreditation visit report 2010 [pdf]

 

MUHC Challenges

  • The development of the future MUHC (i.e. the transition from the old MUHC to the new MUHC, engagement of stakeholders and deployment of best practices across all sites)
  • Accessibility to care and services
  • Communication in a large organization
  • Space issues

The MUHC is addressing these challenges through a variety of initiatives such as:

  • The creation of the Transition Support Office
  • MUHC Patient Flow Committee

Additionally, Accreditation Canada recognized five MUHC Leading Practices during their 2010 visit.
MUHC Leading Practices 

Leading Practices are “particularly innovative and cost-effective solutions to improve quality” that are identified by Accreditation Canada during the accreditation process. These practices are posted on the Accreditation Canada website where they are shared with other Canadian healthcare organizations.

See Accreditation Canada's: Leading Practices Search

See Accreditation Canada's: Leading Practices Definitions  

The five Leading Practices at the MUHC recognized by Accreditation Canada in the 2010 accreditation are: