Saturday morning looms and for most people (unless you work today) it is time to slow down and take the attitude of “I do not have to do anything about work today”.

For me today that is so true.  I know we all have busy weeks but this week, in fact for many, many, many weeks I have been so busy and flat out and today I am exhausted! Why today in particular?  Because last Wednesday, we have had accreditation for the Medical Practice at which I am employed. For those of you who do not know what this means, let me explain.

Accreditation in general terms for any medical practice plays a vital role in ensuring quality, safety, and credibility in healthcare. It benefits patients, healthcare providers, and the healthcare system by promoting continuous improvement, establishing trust, and most importantly, meeting regulatory requirements that enable the practice to continue in its care. It happens every three years in Australia. It ensures that the medical facility meets specific criteria related to patient safety, infection control, clinical protocols, and other aspects of healthcare delivery. For our General Practice, by achieving accreditation, we can demonstrate compliance with these healthcare regulations to ensure the necessary legal and ethical obligations are being met.  

Do you know, that under the Royal Australian College of General Practitioners (RACGP -regulatory body,) there are 152 standards of the 5^th edition we must address. No? Well, now you do know. There are 152 standards which we must address practically in our day-to-day routines as doctors and administration.

Do you know, preparing for accreditation, until I told them, not even my doctors knew there were this many. I guess, realistically, it is not an essential fact to know and I am not even sure my administrative team knew either until I actually informed them. But irrespective of the number of standards to meet, undertaking these benchmarks, encourages and establishes in the general public eyes, a level of trust and credibility in our healthcare facility. Meeting these standards, enhances professional development for both clinical and administrative staff, allowing us to be continuously updated on advancements in medical knowledge, clinical protocols, and administrative inclusions. It essentially means that our patients, healthcare providers, and stakeholders can have confidence that we do adhere to recognized standards that demonstrates our commitment in providing safe and high-quality care for all our patients.

In a nutshell, it is a mammoth task! One that most public do not know about or understand or are aware of what and why we do this.

For me personally for the past 18 months to two years, it has involved developing and writing and educating staff in any new aspects of the standards, encouraging etiquettes, procedures, and the perpetual regulating body’s new or refined guidelines to be introduced, developed, or improved, creating Practice Specific manuals- (how we meet these standards at our practice), refining existing policies and procedures, examining, and improving (where needed,) the clinical processes and protocols, working importantly as a team practically to achieve all of these values and guidelines. All these documents are submitted to our formal accreditation body, three months before the actual visit on the day and then continuing to encourage staff to implement and maintain what our written policies state. I guess the term ‘a living document”- explains that phrase perfectly in that any of our policies or procedures in writing is what we actually do in person. Within the practice personally.

All of us.

At the same time, I am still performing my role in day to day duties and responsibilities as  Practice Manager of a busy small Medical Practice.

No, I am not putting myself on a pedestal.

I could not do any of this without my team. It is definitely a whole team endeavour, and as a team, we have all contributed along the way in both administrative and clinical areas. But through functioning professionally, with my entire team,  with my doctor /owner husband both personally and professionally ( after all it is his practice,) being the one  leading this process has been an enormous task! I guess I am just trying to explain what and how much time, pressure and stress has been devoted to this objective. But most general practices all do it.

And we did it!

On the visitation inspection day, our two surveyors (as they are called,) after discussion/questioning with the owner GP, (my husband) physical workplace inspections and many hours of questioning me (interrogating as I call it) on almost every standard, once again, we achieved Accreditation status.

Yes, we passed!

And, not only did we pass but passed with ‘excellent high standards’(their words).

Am I thrilled?

Of course! I am over the moon.  I am ecstatic! I am so proud of our team and our practice! And interestingly I also have a mix of other emotions, which includes that sense of great accomplishment, relief, but also that weird, unusual feeling of emptiness or flatness knowing it is all over. Oh, but I know that will not last very long as my work and my life begin both professionally and personally! again this new week coming!

The funniest part is that, do you know though…that it will all start again! Working with the current standards, introducing to staff the new sixth edition standards that will happen very soon and the beginning of preparing for the accreditation visit once more,  in three years time!

And yes…. I will more than likely do it all over again!

Mad aren’t I!