Does your surgery center have an accreditation survey approaching? If so, you may be feeling some anxiety about passing. That's normal. The stakes are high with accreditation surveys. Pass and your center will have an important layer of credibility and trust with potential patients. Fail, and your surgery center may struggle to attract a consistent pipeline of patients. 

Preparation is your ally. Accreditation surveys can be challenging, but they are passable if you and your team prepare ahead of time. Below are three tips to help you ace your survey:

Catalog and centralize your records and documents. In most surveys, the survey team will choose a patient record and analyze that patient's journey through your surgery center. They may request a wide range of documents and records. If you can't find the records they request, you may look disorganized.

Take some time ahead of the survey to catalog and organize all your records. On the day of the survey, designate one person to be the record keeper. If the survey team requests a certain document, have that designated person be the one to locate the record and bring it to the team. That person should know the location of every single document or record that could be requested.

Audit your technology. Technology is a major component in surgeries and overall healthcare. As you might expect, your technology will be an important part of your survey. The survey team will expect you to have an inventory of all devices, equipment, and pieces of technology. Develop a healthcare technology management team to test each device and piece of technology to make sure they're working properly. It's also wise to document how often the devices have been used. If you have a significant number of devices that have not been touched or used in months, even on a testing basis, that could create red flags for the survey team.

Learn from others' mistakes. The Joint Commission is one of the main accreditation bodies. Every month they publish a newsletter that summarizes recent accreditations. In that summary, you will find mistakes that other medical centers made in their accreditation surveys. They range from technological issues to record-keeping mistakes to much more. You can learn from these issues and prevent them in your upcoming survey. Spend some time reading through past reports and making a list of areas that you may want to address before the big day arrives.

Accreditation surveys can be stressful and challenging, but remember the survey team doesn't expect you to be perfect. Spend some preparation time organizing your surgery center and you will likely do great. However, without preparation, your survey could be more difficult than it needs to be. 

For more information about surgery center accreditation, contact a local company.