Surry Business

By demonstrating compliance with The Joint Commission’s national standards for health care quality and safety, Northern Hospital of Surry County in Mount Airy has earned The Joint Commission’s Gold Seal of Approval.

“We continually strive to improve the quality of our services, and meeting The Joint Commission’s rigorous national standards is an important recognition of our efforts,” says Mary Midkiff, laboratory director at Northern Hospital.

The Joint Commission evaluated the laboratory’s performance in complying with nearly 300 standards related to quality control, safety, infection control, leadership, management of human resources, management of information, ongoing performance improvement activities and other issues.

Founded in 1951, The Joint Commission is dedicated to continuously improving the safety and quality of the nation’s health care through voluntary accreditation.

“The accreditation process helps promote continuous, systematic and organization-wide improvement in health care organizations,” says Margaret Peck, director of The Joint Commission’s Laboratory Accreditation Program. “Achieving accreditation demonstrates Northern Hospital of Surry County’s commitment to providing high quality and safe services.”

Mary Midkiff says efforts to improve don’t stop when The Joint Commission survey is over.

“Meeting the standards and achieving excellence is a continuous process,” she says. “No matter how well we did today, we continue to strive to do better tomorrow.”