Health Care Standards Development
Standards Development
A health care quality standard is a statement of the quality of expected care
- They Inform healthcare providers of expectations; guide monitoring and evaluation of care and patients receive same level of care regardless of the setting
- The standards are evidence-based standards: they are written according to current research and expert consensus
- The Rwanda healthcare standards are based on the 5th Edition of The International Society for Quality in Health Care (ISQua) Guidelines and Principles for the Development of Health and Social Care Standards (the Principles)
- In 2021/2022, (i) the Rwanda hospital standards 2nd edition were reviewed and guidelines developed and (ii) the General clinics and dispensary standards were developed.
- In 2022, General Clinics standards to ensure compliance with ISQua EEA guidelines of standards development and review were developed and are currently awaiting validation by the TWG
The Rwandan standards were adapted from the International Essentials of Health Care Quality and Safety designed by Joint Commission International (JCI) to address the five risk areas for patients in hospitals. This approach was selected with the desire to adopt internationally recognized standards to the Rwandan situation and provide progressive levels of recognition to reinforce achieving the standards. In addition, the standards were developed according to the International Society for Quality in Healthcare (ISQua) standards, an organization that accredits accrediting bodies.
- Once the standards have been approved for use, they should not be changed. However, planning for the ongoing development and updating of standards should take place.
- Only the Standards Development Committee is empowered to order changes to standards should they be deemed necessary.
- All standards are to be underpinned by the International Society for Quality in Health Care (ISQua) Principles.
- When standards development is planned, particular attention must be paid to customer and market needs, resources, regulations, and time frames. This is achieved through:
- surveys and networking to establish industry and customer requirements
- taking statutory and ethical requirements into account
- Specialist interest groups should be consulted to identify shortcomings in the current standards where they exist.
- A consultation process with appropriate interest groups must be planned.