CAP Accreditation for King Abdulaziz Hospital Laboratory
The College of American Pathologists awarded the Department of Pathology and Laboratory Medicine in King Abdulaziz Hospital National Guard Al-Ahsa with accreditation to become the first to get to this award at the level of hospitals in Al-Ahsa, and the third hospital in the National Guard.
“This made the hospital a powerful reference in accurately diagnosing diseases which in turn will successfully help to treat patients.” The CEO of National Guard Health Affairs and the President of King Saud bin Abdulaziz University for Health Sciences, Dr. Bandar Al Knawy said.
He continued to mention that the laboratory department in King Abdulaziz Hospital is considered one of the first hospitals in the world to receive this accreditation from the first assessment done by the College of American Pathologists.
The laboratory not only works to diagnose the disease but also to determine its progress and provide information vital to the treatment. The hospital receives cases from different regions of the Kingdom, Gulf and Arab countries. The rates of the laboratory patients exceeded 80% and the annual number of laboratory tests exceeded 4 million tests.
The Regional Executive Director of the NGHA in the Eastern Province Dr. Ahmed Alarfj said: “The laboratory department seeks to continuously develop and improve its services by utilizing the latest findings in modern science, equipment and devices for accurate and fast results.”
The chairman of Department of Pathology and Laboratory Medicine Dr. Nadia Al Hawashim said: “We received the award in quantitative quality and test accuracy. The laboratory department has 10 divisions; each division has its own scientific privacy. The accreditation was awarded due to the efforts of department staff as well as the modern equipment.
She also pointed out that "This result was achieved in a record time of less than two years, despite the difficult standards of the evaluation”. The Evaluation Committee first visited King Abdulaziz Hospital to observe if the hospital matches the international standers, and then visited for a second time to carry out a two year assessment.
The goal of the CAP Laboratory Accreditation Program is to improve patient safety by advancing the quality of pathology and laboratory services through education, standard setting, and ensuring laboratories meet or exceed regulatory requirements. Upon successful completion of the inspection process, the laboratory is awarded CAP accreditation and becomes part of an exclusive group of laboratories worldwide that have met the highest standards of excellence.