74 FROM THE EXECUTIVE DIRECTOR
credits Jerry Hoffman, Upstate’s AAHA practice consultant, for help- ing them become accredited and ulti- mately becoming a better hospital. “Jerry wasn’t fanatical about it. But he pushed us and made the process fit the way we run our organization. Jerry knew we wanted to understand why it was important for us to do each of those standards, and he made sure we had a thorough understanding of how that was going to help us. He kept our eye on the goal of not just checking off a bunch of boxes to say we were accredited, but genuinely improving our hospital. He didn’t let us lose sight of the big picture of what we were doing. “As a result of the accreditation
process, we’re definitely a better hos- pital. Jerry helped us take out a mirror and look closely at ourselves to under- stand what we were already doing well and where we needed to improve. And, just as important, his enthusiasm inspired the teamwork that’s required to make it happen. Jerry humanized the process. His enthusiasm was con- tagious. We got excited about it, and that filtered down throughout our team. So it wasn’t a drudgery that we had to go through. It was a very posi- tive experience. He has been a terrific resource for us.” —Jennifer Jevens, practice manager, Upstate Veterinary Specialists, Greenville, S.C., AAHA’s first Referral Practice of the Year
Myth buster #3: AAHA wants to tell us how to practice medicine. The standards of accreditation pro- vide a structure that encourages best practices, with the goal of improving patient care, client service, and safety, among other things. AAHA recognizes that only a veterinarian with a client– patient relationship can determine the best course of action when it comes to medical decisions. The accreditation process allows prac- tices to choose the standards that fit their
needs and challenges them to raise the bar. One of the ways practices benefit from the accreditation process is through improved communication, which leads to a more cohesive team and the deliv- ery of consistent processes and services throughout the practice. “AAHA has designed an effective
organizational accountability and compliance model that helps ensure comprehensive, successful patient care. If anyone becomes slack in delivering their best, we can point to AAHA standards for staff redirection. AAHA standards become the measure team members strive to meet, not the employer’s whims. We can practice the level of medicine we signed on for. The evaluation is critical. Team members experience accountability for actions or inactions. It is important for all to know what efforts are essen- tial and will be noticed. And finally, receiving feedback through the evalu- ation process gives us a snapshot of where we can improve and what we have done well.” —Machel Jordan, practice manager, Animal Avian Hos- pital of the Village, Houston, Texas
“Accreditation increases our com- mitment to each other as team mem- bers by holding us accountable to 900 quality standards that help us achieve our mission of creating a welcom- ing environment, providing quality care and encouraging our clients to become part of their pet’s health care team.” —Nancy Hendrickson, hos- pital administrator, Norwalk Veteri- nary Medical Center, Norwalk, Conn., AAHA’s 2011 Accredited Practice of the Year
Share your views on accreditation with an email to
trendstoday@aahanet.org. n
Michael Cavanaugh, DVM, DAVBP, is executive director of AAHA. Debbie Gadomski, RVT, is AAHA’s national field operations manager.
Trends magazine, September 2011
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