BACKGROUND: There is limited knowledge about the role of accreditation in improving quality and organizational learning in Iranian hospitals. Therefore, the present study was conducted to investigate the relationship between employees’ perceptions of the accreditation impact on the quality of care and organizational culture in Iranian hospitals. MATERIALS AND METHODS: This cross-sectional study was conducted in 12 teaching hospitals in three provinces of Iran from February to September of 2022. A total of 780 clinical and non-clinical employees were recruited through a multi-stage sampling method. Quality improvement perception management and organizational culture self-report questionnaires were used to collect data. All data were analyzed using descriptive statistics, Pearson correlation coefficient, and bivariate regression analysis via SPSS-22 software. RESULTS: Overall employees agreed on the positive impact of accreditation on the organization (3.50 ± 0.78). Two dominant cultures at hospitals were found to be hierarchical (mean: 58.16 out of 100) and rational (mean: 56.01 out of 100). A positive relationship was found between accreditation with quality improvement and organizational learning in hospital settings ( P < 0.05). There also was a significantly positive correlation between employees’ perceptions of accreditation and the four types of culture ( P < 0.05; B = 0.413). CONCLUSIONS: Although employees’ perceptions of the impact of accreditation were positive, most scales need more effort to enhance progress in areas of quality improvement. The results supported the evidence that accreditation contributes to changing employees’ perception of organizational culture toward greater flexibility and structural and procedural changes to facilitate safety and improve quality and performance. However, further interventional research is needed to examine the impact of accreditation on learning and organizational culture.
Kakemam et al. (Sun,) studied this question.