Investigating the challenges of physicians' participation in accreditation programs from the perspective of physicians in public hospitals

Due to the increasing pressure on hospitals to increase the quality of services, the need for physicians to participate in quality improvement programs, especially hospital accreditation, has become more important. Therefore, the present study was conducted to determine the challenges of physicians' participation in accreditation programs in Mashhad city, eastern Iran

This descriptive-analytical cross-sectional study was conducted in 1399 using a questionnaire in 12 hospitals in the east of the country that performed accreditation. This questionnaire examined the challenges of physicians' participation in accreditation programs in hospitals. Finally, 445 physicians participated in the study and the participation rate was reported to be about 24%. Data analysis was performed at two levels of descriptive and inferential statistics using STATA V.14.

The findings of the present study showed that among the challenges of physicians' participation in accreditation programs in hospitals, the strongest challenge from the perspective of physicians is related to the dimensions of effective communication (4.05± 0.74) and the empowering physicians about accreditation and quality improvement (3.89±0.59). Also, the weakest of them was related to the dimension of ambiguity in role (0.96±2.86). Among the studied challenges, only the score of patient demand dimension showed a statistically significant difference between different medical specialties (p<0.05).

The implementation of this program can be improved through Culture building, proper accreditation training and quality improvement activities in the medical community helped to implements.