The Accreditation Association for Ambulatory Health Care certifies ambulatory surgery centers
in the United States. The AAAHC is always reviewing its standards and revising its standards, even adding new standards as they become required by the ever-changing health care field.
Whatever those standards are at any given time, your service center needs to meet them. Their surveyors include people from all walks of the health care field, including physicians, dentists, podiatrists, pharmacists, nurses and administrators. Based on how they decide, your institution is accredited for three years. However, if your center does not meet their standards, it will receive a deferral or denial of accreditation.
The AAAHC is all about meeting the highest-possible standards for patient care and safety. And so long as your organization meets the following criteria, it is ready for accreditation.
- Has been providing health care services for six months before survey.
- Is a legal entity that provides health care services.
- Is already in compliance with federal, state, and local laws and regulations.
- Licensed by the state, if required.
- Provides care under direction of a health care professionals such as MD, DDS or OD.
- Is compliant with U.S. Equal Employment Opportunity Commission laws
- Shares all patient and health care records with AAAHC.
- Submits signed Application for Survey, documentation, and fee in advance.
- Pays fees in accordance with AAAHC policies.
- Provides accurate information during accreditation process.
One of the most basic and necessary parts of getting accredited by the Accreditation Association for Ambulatory Health Care is quality, clear signage. The quality of your hallway signs, room signs, lab signs, wayfinding systems and emergency signs are what could make or break your facility's approval.
Let's walk through some of the most critical signage needs you'll want to take care of for Accreditation Association for Ambulatory Health Care accreditation.
Wayfinding Systems
What is wayfinding? Historically, it's how travelers would find their way across lands where no directions exist. Today, we know it as the system that a building or grounds uses to guide people throughout even if they've never been there before.
Wayfinding signage gives visual highlights to help visitors or patients navigate their way through your hospital. Wayfinding signs are designed to match up with your locale or style by including aesthetically-pleasing color schemes that give your wayfinding systems and building a unified appearance.
Wayfinding systems should always be easy to update, upgrade, and maintain quickly, even if it's your in-house staff. Obviously, they should be ADA compliant and many of your employees should be able to step in and lead visitors by using it. You don't want to rely on an outside agency every time your wayfinding system needs updating. Internal staff should be able to make updates and changes at any moment when necessary.
Room Signs
A hospital room sign might sound like the most basic and obvious healthcare facility signs around but it would be unwise to underestimate their value. Room signs help guests and visitors to identify every room in the hospital easily. Health care is a business with a lot of visitors and first-time guests walking freely so they need very specific instructions to guide them. Your healthcare facility or emergency center should be very easy to get around and should maintain an air of professionalism with simple room signs and signage.
Lab Signs
Is there any day-to-day hospital signage more important than lab room signage? It is critical that laboratory doors and walls are always clear and meet Accreditation Association for Ambulatory Health Care standards. It's hard to say exactly what happens behind lab doors in any given hospital or care center but chances are it is something that requires privacy and serious care for whatever experiment or surgery is being done. The less opportunity for someone who shouldn't enter to mistakenly open the lab door, the better. Good lab room signage is colorful, bright and clear. Most of all it's easily understandable. Language and disability concerns should be taken into account, especially given ADA requirements. It should never be left to change that a first-time guest could misinterpret where they are and where they are allowed.
Evacuation Signs
Emergency Signs
When an emergency occurs, the situation can be made much worse by bad signage. If someone is in the hospital for the first time and it is unclear as to where they need to go as they leave the complex, it could spell disaster. Not only should emergency signs be clear from a language-standpoint but also visually (colors, pictures) and covering ADA concerns (braille). The need to make sure these signs are perfectly clear is paramount and there is no way you'll be able to meet Accreditation Association for Ambulatory Health Care standards without it.
When you're making sure your signage meets Accreditation Association for Ambulatory Health Care standards, make sure you are getting it from a quality sign company that understands them.
