Newswise — The St. Jude Department of Pathology has received accreditation to the ISO15189 standard under the College of American Pathologists (CAP) 15189SM Accreditation Program. St. Jude is the first children’s hospital in the nation to be accredited under this program.
The accreditation is based on the International Organization for Standardization (ISO) 15189 Standard for laboratories’ technical competence, management, and continual improvement. It focuses on improved patient safety and risk reduction, outlining standards for quality, and competence particular to medical laboratories. The CAP is a Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services-approved accreditation authority.
“This CAP accreditation recognizes St. Jude’s commitment to providing the highest standards of quality for our patients and their families,” said David Ellison, M.D., Ph.D., chair of the Department of Pathology. “We are honored to receive this accreditation, and I congratulate the department’s hard work and dedication that has helped us reach this milestone.”
CAP 15189SM is a voluntary, non-regulatory accreditation to the ISO 15189:2012 Standard as published by ISO. The program does not replace the CAP’s Clinical Laboratory Improvement Amendments (CLIA)-based Laboratory Accreditation Program, but complements CAP accreditation and other quality systems. The program optimizes processes to improve patient care, strengthens quality standards while reducing institutional errors and risks, and controls costs. CAP 15189SM is an educational program that offers a highly disciplined approach to implementing and sustaining change.
"The ISO15189 Standard provides a comprehensive quality management framework that allows laboratories not only to 'study for the exam' but also to 'learn for life'”, said Frank Schneider, M.D., FCAP, and Chair of the CAP 15189 Committee. “Laboratories working towards its implementation have chosen a path of continual improvement. They embrace their problems and seek intelligent solutions, thereby enhancing patient care as well as customer and staff satisfaction."
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