Medical and healthcare services and the pharmaceutical industry are among the most sensitive and important sectors for the world and for humanity. Quality is their very foundation, and ISO standards support that quality across the medical sector and in the delivery of treatment and healthcare services.
Hospitals are the meeting point for the providers of these services: doctors, pharmacists, nursing and emergency staff, relief services and medical insurance for all kinds of commercial and charitable organisations.
Organisations in this sector strive to achieve the highest quality standards internally and to have their name associated with outstanding quality.
This is exactly what the various ISO standards deliver for medical organisations and hospitals.
Here are…
The key standards and certificates that add value to medical organisations – ISO
ISO 9001: This is the standard for quality management systems in organisations, including hospitals. It deals with managing quality within the organisation; by meeting it, the organisation commits to applying every quality principle, which is reflected in the level of services and products provided to its users. Departments are audited more than once until the organisation qualifies for internationally accredited ISO certification by implementing the standard.
ISO 14001 certification: environmental commitment: ISO 14001 certification concerns applying environmental standards within the hospital. A hospital that achieves ISO certification under this standard commits to every environmental protection requirement in its operations, such as waste disposal and segregating medical waste into organic, dry and hazardous waste.
ISO 45001: Occupational health and safety ISO 45001 certification concerns applying occupational health and safety requirements. Hospitals holding this certification are committed to providing a safe working environment for their staff.
ISO 27001: Information security ISO 27001 certification concerns information security and confidentiality requirements. Hospitals holding this certification are committed to protecting patient data from loss, damage or breach.
Overall, ISO certification is a powerful tool for hospitals to improve their operations and provide better healthcare to patients. It should be noted, however, that achieving certification takes considerable time, effort and resources. The process includes steps such as gap analysis, documenting a quality manual, implementing the quality management system, internal audit and the certification audit. The results are well worth the effort, as certification helps improve healthcare and increase patient satisfaction.
How do hospitals obtain ISO certification?
Achieving ISO certification is a careful process with several stages:
- Understanding the standard: the person managing the medical organisation must understand the standard to be implemented and assess its impact on the organisation and its reputation.
- Gap analysis: This involves assessing current systems and processes to identify where changes are needed to conform to the standard.
- Implementation: Once the gaps in your system have been identified, the next step is to establish the processes the standard requires and make sure they are effective.
- Internal audit: An internal audit is essential to verify that the processes implemented conform to the standard and to the organisation’s requirements.
- Management review: Management review meetings check that the system is ready for the certification audit and reinforce commitment to the standard’s continual improvement requirements.
- Certification audit: This is the final step, in which the certification body carries out the external audit.
A tip from Team Quality: Achieving ISO 9001 certification is very important for maintaining quality management systems in an organisation. It ensures continuity of quality, increases customer and consumer satisfaction, and adds great value by associating the certification mark with the organisation’s brand, increasing trust in it among other brands. You can also obtain it in a very short time; contact us on +20 101 444 2207
How hospitals benefit from ISO and quality certification
Organisations in the medical services sector benefit from ISO certification in many different ways
1- Trust: the organisation gains the trust of many groups, whether direct service users or partners such as raw material suppliers and organisations that use medical insurance services.
2- Orderly operations: through compliance with the standards that qualify the organisation for ISO certification and its periodic renewals.
3- Attracting investment: the development of medical organisations and their commitment to quality make them stand out to investors and make them feel more secure investing in the sector, increasing opportunities to expand and open new branches.
4- Attracting business partnerships: through the spread of a good reputation, whether through consumers’ direct reviews and recommendations, or through the organisation’s presence on accreditation bodies’ lists or among prestigious brands listed by the auditing and ISO certification company.
How to choose an ISO and quality certification body
You need to choose your certification body carefully, regardless of differing pricing policies and tempting offers, because an ISO certificate from a certification body becomes part of your organisation’s reputation. Choose a company with strong, genuine authorisations and accreditations locally and internationally, a proven track record and real strengths that help your brand stand among prestigious brands and organisations. Team Quality offers you all of this and more. Follow us on Facebook for all our latest posts
