American Hospital Dubai re-accredited for the third time by Joint Commission International (JCI)

American Hospital Dubai became the first hospital in the Middle East to be awarded JCI accreditation in May 2000 and successfully underwent a further survey by the JCI in May 2003 to maintain its accredited status. JCI carries out surveys on its accredited hospitals every three years and this latest re-accreditation was awarded after an intensive, five-day survey undertaken by an evaluation team from the JCI. The American Hospital Dubai is the only hospital in the UAE with JCI accreditation.

Joint Commission International's latest on-site evaluation of American Hospital Dubai took place in April 2006 and was conducted by a team of international health care experts, including a Physician, Nurse and Hospital administrator. The five-day survey covered 376 JCI standards and more than 1,000 hospital activities were examined.

"Health care organizations around the world want to create environments that focus on quality, safety and continuous improvement," says Karen Timmons, chief executive officer, Joint Commission International. "Accreditation meets this demand by stimulating continuous, systematic improvements in a hospital's performance and the outcomes of patient care. The community should be proud that American Hospital Dubai has made a commitment to quality and safety."

Joint Commission International is dedicated to improving the quality of health care through voluntary accreditation. Joint Commission International's uniform, high standards for patient care and safety are designed to be adaptable to local needs, thus accommodating legal, religious and cultural factors within a country.

Standards focus on the areas that most directly impact patient care. These include access to care, assessment of patients, infection control, patient and family rights, and education. Standards also address facility management and safety, staff qualifications, quality improvement, hospital leadership, and management of information.

"Maintaining our accreditation is a continuation of the quality journey, and is attainable through the collaboration among all our physicians and hospital staff members"

says Michael French, CEO at the American Hospital Dubai. "This latest survey by JCI was certainly even more extensive and rigorous than the last one, three years ago, and the survey team used tracer methodology to follow patient journeys from admission to discharge, covering all the hospital's functions.

"The reaction of the JCI surveying team was very positive, commenting that our hospital shares a passionate belief in safety and quality for patients, and concluding that the American Hospital Dubai maintains high standards in terms of patient care. This is a very significant tribute to the achievements of all the physicians and staff at the American Hospital Dubai and reflects the world class standards of healthcare achieved in Dubai and the UAE," commented French.