Health Service  NEWS Release

UNCG STUDENT HEALTH SERVICES
ATTAINS NATIONAL ACCREDITATION
 

Tresa Saxton

GREENSBORO—Student Health Services at The University of North Carolina at Greensboro has achieved accreditation from the Joint Commission on Accreditation of Healthcare Organizations (JCAHO) for a three-year period

The community is invited to celebrate the accreditation during an open house at Gove Student Health Center (located on Gray Drive off of Market Street) on Wednesday, Jan. 10, 2001, from 9-11 a.m. Chancellor Patricia Sullivan will open the event.

UNCG Student Health Services was accredited after a team of joint commission surveyors conducted an on-site survey in August. They determined that health services had demonstrated compliance with the Joint Commission's national standards for ambulatory care organizations. UNCG joins five other campuses in the UNC system and 26 nationwide with JCAHO accreditation. More student health services are accredited in North Carolina than in any other state.

“We sought this accreditation for our organization because we want to be the best,” said Tresa M. Saxton, director of the student health services at UNCG. “We view obtaining Joint Commission accreditation as another step toward excellence.”

Linda K. Peterson, executive director of the commission’s ambulatory program, said "In becoming accredited, UNCG Student Health Services was evaluated against a set of national standards by a joint commission team experienced in the delivery of ambulatory health care services. Achieving accreditation demonstrates UNCG Student Health Services’ commitment to provide high-quality care to its patients."

During the 1998-99 academic year Student Health Services had 19,513 patient visits in the medical clinic, 8,583 client visits in the Counseling and Testing Center and  10,320 participants in wellness programming.

Services available through the health services include: primary care, urgent care, allergy injections; clinics in dermatology, women’s health, sports medicine, performing arts and immunizations; laboratory and radiology services; pharmacy; wellness programs, including massage, nutritional analysis and smoking cessation; and counseling and psychiatric services, including individuals, couples and group counseling.

JCAHO evaluates and accredits nearly 19,000 health care organizations and programs in the United States. An independent, not-for-profit organization, the Joint Commission is the nation’s predominant standards-setting and accrediting body in healthcare. Since 1951, the commission has developed state-of-the-art, professionally based standards and evaluated the compliance of health care organizations against these benchmarks.

The mission of the JCAHO is to continuously improve the safety and quality of care provided to the public through the provision of health care accreditation and related services that support performance improvement in health care organizations. The commission established the ambulatory health care accreditation program in 1975 to encourage quality patient care in all types of freestanding ambulatory care facilities.

Back to the Latest News Releases
Return to the University News Service Home Page