| This research assesses whether integration of Accreditation Canada's (previously known as Canadian Council on Health Services Accreditation) AIM (Achieving Improved Measurement) accreditation program brings about change and organizational learning. It studies the case of two health organizations: the Health Authority of Anguilla (HAA) and the Ca' Foncella Opetale de Treviso (CFOT).;The findings indicate that the organizations made strategic, organizational and relational changes. They improved their systems and management practices as well as their internal and external communications.;There was also useful learning by individuals, teams and the organizations. Individual learning involved quality programs, the client-focused approach, risk management, professional ethics, participatory management and assessment of services.;The "self-assessment" and "make improvements and implement the recommendations" stages of the accreditation cycle contributed the most to change and organizational learning. The interdisciplinary accreditation teams were the preferred vehicle for achieving these changes and this learning.;The research consists of three levels of analysis for which qualitative and quantitative data were gathered: (1) members of the accreditation teams; (2) the accreditation teams; (3) the organization as a whole. The techniques used to collect data consisted of individual questionnaires administered to team members, semi-formal interviews with team leaders and quality coordinators, a review of documentation and several periodic measurements of compliance with the AIM standards were the techniques used.;The HAA and CFOT have gradually improved their level of compliance with the standards in all quality dimensions, both at the accreditation team level and throughout the organization. However, improvement in the overall compliance level was below the program's minimum requirements to obtain accreditation status without major restrictions.;The scope of the changes and learning achieved raises the issue of the capacity of organizations to formalize this new knowledge throughout the organization. CFOT might achieve this given the resources and skills available to it.;Keywords. accreditation, organizational change & learning, level of compliance. |
