It's All Fun and Games Until Someone Gets Accredited: Innovative Approaches to Preparing Staff for Accreditation

Coordinating accreditation efforts at the Houston Department of Health and Human Services (HDHHS), the fourth largest health department in the United States, is a multi-pronged, protracted process. For the majority of public health entities, the concept of accreditation marks new territory.  Collecting volumes of documentation which must meet detailed specifications requires a well-trained and highly engaged staff. Achieving and maintaining this level of staff involvement, while participating in such a new process can present many challenges for health departments.  

After being formed in September 2011, the HDHHS Performance Improvement and Accreditation Team (PIAT) began working to increase staff awareness of and participation in the public health accreditation process.  HDHHS formed an accreditation workgroup and began collecting documentation in March 2012.  In May 2013, HDHHS conducted a mock site visit to assess the quality of current HDHHS documentation.  This assessment was conducted with a sample of documentation from 36 of the PHAB Standards and Measures.  Of the 36 measures reviewed, only 6 of the measures (17%) were considered to fully or largely meet the measure requirements. 

From these results, PIAT developed a plan to train and familiarize staff with the standards and measures in order to improve the quality of documents produced during day to day operations.  Using instructional design and adult learning principles, the team created in-person and online trainings, interactive games, and standardized templates for staff to use.  A second assessment was conducted in December 2013, and the results showed that 81% of the previously reviewed measures were considered fully or largely met; a 64% increase.  By utilizing similar techniques, health departments should be able to increase staff engagement, the quality of departmental documentation, and further promote accreditation and quality improvement within the culture of the organization.