The government, government agencies, and local authorities have a duty to ensure that public facilities maintain trust with respect to health, safety, and other human aspects. Government agencies have a duty to ensure that public health facilities maintain their trust in health, compliance, and safety while offering their services to the community.
Ideally, the public health departments play a fundamental role in promoting public health and hence the need for accreditation. Indeed, certain states like North Carolina have had an accreditation program for health departments. An accreditation refers to a formal recognition of competence, capacity, and impartiality to offer public health care services according to internationally recognized standards.
The main objectives of accrediting public health capacity and services include the provision of a strategy that health departments can use to prepare for accreditation. More so, accreditation has an objective of exploring the public health departments and offering guidelines that will make sure that we meet the standards set by the Public Health Accreditation Board (PHAB).
There are certain strengths and weaknesses that relate to the use of performance measurements in local public health agency accreditation. One of the strengths is that the accreditation will guarantee health standards in the offering of both private and public health services since it will ensure quality and safety of health services. Moreover, the accreditation process has been in operation for a longer time and hence we can ascertain its relevance, influence, efficiency, and operation ability.
However, performance measurements have a weakness in that many local public health agencies are not ready for the accreditation. More so, the performance measurement does not address the financial needs, staffing needs, and motivation of medical staff. Furthermore, there is improper documentation and standardization of the accreditation standards, which leads to the misunderstanding of the program.
Numerous pros relate to the adoption of an accreditation program in a public health facility. One of the pros relates to the fact that accreditation foster credibility and depicts high levels of accountability among the public health officials. In addition, accreditation leads to increased funding due to the acquisition of public trust and confidence. It also allow for the measurement of feedback and assessments as well as deriving assurance in the global health sector.
Furthermore, accredited public health facilities will attract the most qualified medical professionals who look for institutions with high quality standards. Accreditation fosters scientific validity and promotes continuous improvement of public health capacity and services.
Moreover, accreditation will guarantee reliability of health services, reduce the risk of duplication of services, and eliminate the need for legislation. At the same time, accreditation will enhance business efficiency by fostering a quick response to new issues and priorities in the public health department. As such, accreditation will be fundamental in our public health capacity and services.
Nevertheless, various cons hinder the adoption of the accreditation standards in the public health sector. Indeed, the PHAB published very many and lengthy accreditation standards, which public health facilities would struggle to meet. In fact, most public health departments are already following some of these standards.
More so, the accreditation process is very long and the standards in the accreditation program do not have a universal impact on all public health facilities and hence the need for individual consideration. Furthermore, the accreditation process is expensive and takes a lot of time thus jeopardizing the operations of a local health agency. As such, there is need to address the specific cons that relate to the accreditation of the public health capacity and services.
In conclusion, I find that with proper harmonization, documentation, and standardization of the accreditation program, the accreditation process of our public health capacity and services would be very beneficial to the public and us. As such, I will support the accreditation to improve our public health capacity and services.