Wooster Community Hospital earns ISO 9001 certification

Wooster Community Hospital has been awarded full certification by DNV to the ISO 9001 Quality Management System.

“Providing safe, high-quality care is at the core of everything we do,” said Tara Raudebaugh, vice president of quality management and chief quality officer. “ISO 9001 certification reflects that commitment and has helped us strengthen our systems and processes. While the certificate is symbolic, the transformation required to achieve it has had a lasting impact on how we deliver care.”

ISO 9001 is the most widely accepted quality management system in use around the world and is quickly gaining acceptance among U.S. health care providers as a foundation for their quality and patient safety programs.

“Wooster Community Hospital has worked hard to achieve this certification, and they have done so with unwavering commitment from their top leadership to make their hospital the best it can be,” said Kelly Proctor, president of DNV Healthcare USA Inc. “ISO 9001 certification isn’t just an award or trophy for something you’ve done. It’s public evidence that you are at the top of your game with an obvious plan in place to make excellence an everyday objective.”

ISO 9001 brings science to the art of caregiving. It helps to standardize processes around things that are proven to work by the people doing the work, thus empowering frontline workers while creating an environment of predictability for the entire organization. The ultimate impact of ISO 9001 within hospitals is the reduction or elimination of variation so critical work processes are done consistently.

Businesses that implement ISO 9001 do so for both the internal and external benefits. Internally, it helps the staff create clear, consistent processes of patient care and ensures progress is constantly being made toward specific objectives. Externally, it tells the public and insurers and regulatory agencies the hospital is pursuing quality with discipline and transparency.

“The discipline and continuous improvement ISO fosters elevate patient care," Raudebaugh said. "ISO 9001 aligns well with the complexity and collaboration required in today’s hospital environment."