California State University, Bakersfield’s Student Health Services has been nationally recognized for its commitment to providing high-quality health care to students.
The center has received a three-year accreditation through 2024 from the Accreditation Association for Ambulatory Health Care Inc., or AAAHC. The accreditation is the center’s 10th three-year term in a row.
Student Health Services gives CSUB students access to basic health care, laboratory and pharmacy services and other services at little to no cost.
“This is always a big deal for us,” SHS Associate Director Erika Delamar said of the accreditation. “We always want to be seen as having the highest standard of care for our students.”
The accreditation comes after the AAAHC visited CSUB in September to evaluate whether the center is complying with the organization’s standards for health care. A survey team conducted student chart reviews, inspected equipment and materials and more as part of the evaluation.
In addition to the accreditation, the organization has nominated two quality improvement studies conducted by Student Health Services for a Bernard A. Kershner Innovations in Quality Improvement Award, the first time the center has received such a nomination.
“We’re excited. Whether we win or not, it’s just nice to be nominated,” Delamar said. “It means we’re doing quality studies and looking at important issues to make sure we’re on track.”
One study dealt with patient privacy while the other was on COVID-19 screenings. Organizations are required to submit at least two studies when applying for accreditation to demonstrate improvements that have been implemented, Delamar said.
For the patient privacy study, which began in August 2019 and wrapped up in early 2020, Student Health Services focused on how they made improvements to patient privacy, such as by making sure computer screensavers are set early and passwords aren’t visible.
The COVID-19 study, which was completed earlier this year, highlighted how the center implemented and monitored daily online screenings for faculty and staff. Student Health Services implemented other changes in response to the pandemic, such as offering telehealth appointments, doing temperature checks and staggering appointment times.
“We were able to show them all of the work we’ve put in and that we thought this through,” Delamar said. “We’re providing safe care to our students and providing safety for our staff who are seeing these students.”
Delamar said she is excited about the enthusiastic response from the AAAHC team and believes this was its best accreditation period yet.
“For us, it just makes us feel good that we are on top of it, that we have the right professionals who are providing the right care and doing all of the best practices,” she said. “We know we are providing high-quality care for our students.”
Nomination submissions for the Kershner Awards are being taken through Dec. 10, after which six finalists will be chosen and announced sometime next year.
For more information about Student Health Services, visit csub.edu/healthcenter.
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