Accreditation is a voluntary process through which an organization is able to measure the quality of services or products, and their performance against nationally or internationally recognized standards. The accreditation process involves the organization's self-assessment, as well as a detailed evaluation by a team of external experts.[1].
Specific definitions may vary slightly depending on what type of organization they refer to:.
Confusion with other terms
Credentials
There is another definition of accreditation:
This ambiguity generates confusion, in English the word credentialing is used for this definition. It is recommended to use the word accreditation only for the initial definition, and leave the word certification as a translation of the word credentialing. Google Translate offers the same translation for accreditation and credentialing: accreditation.
License or licensing
In some cases, obtaining an accreditation is confused with obtaining a license.
Certification
Certification is a process that evaluates products or services against standards. In contrast, accreditation recognizes the technical and professional competence of an organization with respect to its activities.
Both activities carry out an evaluation but in different areas. Certification evaluates the degree of compliance of products or services with respect to standards defined by experts from scientific societies. Accreditation recognizes the technical competence of a certification body.[8].
In the case of health and using the Donabedien model[9] regarding patient safety that indicates: Structure + Process = Results, a certification focuses mainly on the structure, while an accreditation reviews all points with special emphasis on the results.
Professional accreditation
Introduction
Accreditation is a voluntary process through which an organization is able to measure the quality of services or products, and their performance against nationally or internationally recognized standards. The accreditation process involves the organization's self-assessment, as well as a detailed evaluation by a team of external experts.[1].
Specific definitions may vary slightly depending on what type of organization they refer to:.
Confusion with other terms
Credentials
There is another definition of accreditation:
This ambiguity generates confusion, in English the word credentialing is used for this definition. It is recommended to use the word accreditation only for the initial definition, and leave the word certification as a translation of the word credentialing. Google Translate offers the same translation for accreditation and credentialing: accreditation.
License or licensing
In some cases, obtaining an accreditation is confused with obtaining a license.
Certification
Certification is a process that evaluates products or services against standards. In contrast, accreditation recognizes the technical and professional competence of an organization with respect to its activities.
Both activities carry out an evaluation but in different areas. Certification evaluates the degree of compliance of products or services with respect to standards defined by experts from scientific societies. Accreditation recognizes the technical competence of a certification body.[8].
Certification in general contemplates partial aspects of an establishment (structures or processes), accreditation is a global evaluation process as it aims to define whether an establishment is in a position to provide quality and safe care. Certification and accreditation do not compete, but rather aim at different objectives. In health there is the ISO 15189 standard, aimed at laboratories, which due to its characteristics is considered an accreditation standard.
As an example, the ISO9001 quality management certification could be compared with an accreditation of health establishments. For certification, the health organization must comply with the provisions of the ISO9001 standards, which, for example, require documenting the processes, certifying that the biomedical equipment is in good condition, and that the staff is trained; Meanwhile, accreditation will require the same but will additionally require measuring the results, for example the rate of complications in surgery, comparing them with the rate of other organizations and, if necessary, improving the processes according to best practices.
Advantages of an international accreditation
According to what is defined, the advantages of an international accreditation over a national or local one are the following:.
ISO 17000 regulations
The ISO 17000 series is a family of ISO standards that covers a wide variety of topics, but includes the topic of conformity assessment (certification and accreditation).
The standards related to conformity assessment of the ISO 17000 series are:.
In the case of health and using the Donabedien model[9] regarding patient safety that indicates: Structure + Process = Results, a certification focuses mainly on the structure, while an accreditation reviews all points with special emphasis on the results.
Certification in general contemplates partial aspects of an establishment (structures or processes), accreditation is a global evaluation process as it aims to define whether an establishment is in a position to provide quality and safe care. Certification and accreditation do not compete, but rather aim at different objectives. In health there is the ISO 15189 standard, aimed at laboratories, which due to its characteristics is considered an accreditation standard.
As an example, the ISO9001 quality management certification could be compared with an accreditation of health establishments. For certification, the health organization must comply with the provisions of the ISO9001 standards, which, for example, require documenting the processes, certifying that the biomedical equipment is in good condition, and that the staff is trained; Meanwhile, accreditation will require the same but will additionally require measuring the results, for example the rate of complications in surgery, comparing them with the rate of other organizations and, if necessary, improving the processes according to best practices.
Advantages of an international accreditation
According to what is defined, the advantages of an international accreditation over a national or local one are the following:.
ISO 17000 regulations
The ISO 17000 series is a family of ISO standards that covers a wide variety of topics, but includes the topic of conformity assessment (certification and accreditation).
The standards related to conformity assessment of the ISO 17000 series are:.