Typology of evaluation styles of hospital accreditation surveyors in Iran

Objective (s): An accreditation program aims to evaluate the quality and safety of services provided in health care organizations. Governance, standards, surveying methods and surveyors are the four main pillars of an accreditation program. Validity of an accreditation program depends largely on the performance and behavior of the surveyors. Therefore, this study seeks to identify the typology of styles and methods used by the hospitals accreditation surveyors. Methods: This qualitative research was conducted using 35 purposeful semi-structured interviews with surveyors of the accreditation program and hospital managers. We employed thematic analysis method for data analysis. The insights from a panel of experts were then sought to verify the accuracy and precision of the styles. Results: Overall six styles including mainly Disciplined, Personalized, Participatory, Interrogative, Systematic and Explorative were emerged to be practiced by the accreditation surveyors while evaluating the hospitals. Conclusion: Cognizance of surveyors’ style might play a role in organizing effective assessment teams and their optimal distribution in a way to enhance the learning and improve surveyors' capabilities and skills. Moreover, it is possible to arrange the evaluation teams in a way to suit the surveyors’ encounter with various organizational environments. It is expected that paying attention to the results of this study by managers and policy makers in the field of accreditation help to create positive results in the accreditation process of hospitals.