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Student
Health Service and Well-Woman Program
Receive National Accreditation
updated
05.05.08
After
more than a year of hard work by staff and clinicians, the
Barnard Student Health
Service and the Well-Woman
Health Promotion Program has been awarded national accreditation
from the Accreditation Association for Ambulatory Health Care
(AAAHC). The Health Service and Well-Woman received a three-year
certificate of accreditation, the longest term given, signifying
substantial compliance with AAAHC's nationally recognized
standards of health care and health education. It also acknowledges
the commitment of the College as a whole to providing students
with exceptional health services.
Accreditation
is a voluntary process that requires rigorous self study by
the health care organization, followed by an extensive two-day
on-site survey reviewing all aspects of its patient care and
health promotion, including services, staff, policies and
facilities.
"The
surveyor acknowledged a strong collaborative environment and
was impressed with the support we receive from the people
we report to in Barnard's administration," said Brenda
Slade, director of the Health Service. "He was also very
impressed with Well-Woman, and how truly integrated it is
with the Health Service and how it operates on a series of
theoretical and practical guidelines - those are often just
goals for a health education program, but ours are actually
in practice."
As an
added bonus, the accreditation process helped spur valuable
procedural changes, staff additions and facility improvements,
and has also inspired a new perspective for both departments.
"An intangible benefit of the process has been that we're
all in a mindset of evaluating -- even without the accreditation
staring us in the face," said Slade. "Everything
we discuss is now viewed within that same paradigm."
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