Final preparations for the JCI survey included a mock survey conducted by a team from PHMI.

Sri Ramachandra Medical Centre earns JCI accreditation

Friday, May 1, 2009

Sri Ramachandra University, whose relationship with Partners Harvard Medical International dates back to 1997, has achieved a major milestone. In March, the university received formal notification that the Sri Ramachandra Medical Centre (SRMC), its associated teaching hospital, has been accredited by Joint Commission International (JCI).

The notification came following a successful survey visit in February by a four-member team from JCI. JCI, the international arm of the Joint Commission, accredits health care organizations that meet a baseline of standards intended to stimulate continuous, systematic, and organization-wide improvement in daily performance and in the outcomes of patient care. While JCI accreditation provides no measure of outcomes, the stamp of approval serves as an indicator that a hospital has put in place a solid foundation to provide safe and effective patient care.

SRMC, a 1,500-bed tertiary care multi-specialty university hospital, is one of the largest private health care facilities in South Asia. It is the first university teaching hospital in India to be accredited by JCI.

University leaders were extremely pleased by the news. “This accreditation is in line with the mission of SRMC, to provide international quality health care to the people of India, at an affordable cost,” said the Chancellor of Sri Ramachandra University, Mr. V.R. Venkataachalam. “It provides a great learning opportunity for the young physicians who are being trained by SRU, not just with the knowledge of medicine but also with delivering quality and ethical health care.”

Vice-Chancellor S. Rangaswami added that the accreditation was an honor and a reassurance of the quality of care provided, and brought with it an increased sense of responsibility.

Mahesh Vakamudi, head of the medical center, said the hospital followed a philosophy that envisaged adherence to global standards of health care as a continuous process. “There are no end points to quality of care,” he said.

In November, a team comprised of PHMI Directors John Helfrick and Frederick van Pelt and Patricia Folcarelli, Director of Professional Practice Development at Beth Israel Deaconess Medical Center, conducted a major assessment of the medical center. As the year drew to a close, PHMI and the medical center staff were collaborating on final preparations for Sri Ramachandra’s survey by JCI.  

“The leadership and staff of Sri Ramachandra Medical Centre have made tremendous progress over the last eighteen months,” said Dr. Helfrick, who has worked closely with SRMC since it initiated the quality improvement program in the hospital.

The early years of the PHMI-Sri Ramachandra alliance were focused on enhancing the school’s medical education programs. Annual workshops on curriculum and faculty development became staples of the partnership. The success of those efforts led the university to expand the partnership to include work in the hospital.

As usual, as a result of the survey, JCI made a number of recommendations which the hospital  is to resolve prior to their next triennial survey in 2012. “Although Sri Ramachandra was successful in their bid to become accredited, accreditation is a process and PHMI will be working collaboratively with the hospital to assure that their quality improvement and patient safety continue,” said Dr. Helfrick.