National Accreditation Model for Rural Health Centers

Accreditation is the most acceptable evaluation method leading to improvement in health system performance. Regarding to lack of national accreditation model for Primary Health Care (PHC)، this study aimed to design national accreditation model for rural health centers. Firstly، suitable accreditation models were selected for benchmarking and surveyed for meeting relevant standards. After studying related textbooks and interview with experts; websites of medical sciences universities were also surveyed. Finally، the standards obtained based on experts'' perspectives were investigated. Researchers recognized JCAHO and CCHSA as superior models; however، medical sciences universities'' web sites failed to have suitable standards. The obtained standards from all methods were delivered to experts in two rounds using Delphi Technique. Finally، all 55 standards were accepted. From this study، an extensive accreditation model with the highest number of standards related to primary health care was obtained. Researchers hope that its application to result in continuous quality improvement in rural health centers.