Sinai Hospital of Baltimore

What prompted you to accredit your lab?

Sinai Hospital of Baltimore’s mission is “To improve the health of individuals and communities we serve through compassionate, high quality care.” The accreditation process is an unbiased way to assess if we are fulfilling this mission. The accreditation is a reassurance to our patients of our level of expertise. 

What value or benefits have you seen from accreditation?

Our lab now has a Policy and Procedure Manual. This manual is a valuable reference for uncommon studies and contains equipment details. The accreditation application has created and organized resources useful for JCAHO surveys. We use the yearly compliance report as a mechanism to re-evaluate our system and procedures and keep up to date with lab personnel CME and CEU in addition to electrical checks for equipment. 

How did going through the accreditation process help you or improve processes and procedures?

Dialogue between all members of our team has improved. We have implemented a comprehensive approach starting with scheduling and ending with the final EMG/NCS report.

What did you learn by going through the accreditation process?

I learned how important other departments are for a smooth running EMG lab, and the importance of organization and documentation. 

What was the most challenging portion of the application?

The accumulation of all the documents needed was challenging, as well as collaborating with other departments.

Did anything about the accreditation process surprise you?

I was surprised but appreciated how quickly the information was reviewed.

Why should others accredit their laboratory?

Others should accredit their lab so that EMG/NCS tests are done in a uniform way. This would increase the quality of EDX studies offered to patients. This uniformity would help prevent duplicate studies and save money. With this accreditation they would perform EMG/NCS with a high standard of quality of care.