Quality of Healthcare and Mass Media. MediaI impact of Local Press Releases about Health Accreditation in Andalusia

Abstract

The u se of appropriate s trategies for the achievemen t o f a g r e a ter i mpact and
ef fec tiveness of communic a tions s h o u l d be a core v a lue wi thin any organizati o n ,
especially thos e regarding healt h care. T hi s p a p e r m a kes an assessment of the
change in strategy undert a ken in 2010 by the communic ation te a m of the Agen cia
de Calidad Sani taria de Andalucía ( A n d a l u sian Q u a l ity of Healt h care Agenc y), a
public foundation responsible for healthcare accreditation. After analyzing issued press
releases, published news reports about the accreditation of quality of health and the
number of accredited professionals and clinical units, it can be said that there has been
a significant increase in the number of published news items about the accreditation of
quality of health throughout the autonomous region of Andalusia. There are two possible
factors to be considered. On the one hand, the increased number of professionals,
hospitals and clinical units that have opted for accreditation of quality as a maxim of
their work, as a result of the boost that the health administration is giving accreditation
programs, and of the professionals’ own initiative. On the other hand, there are reasonable
evidence for stating that the 'localization' of th ese actions and their communication
str ategies, whic h h a ve em p h asiz e d contact wi th local m e di a , has multiplied the
publication of p r e ss releases i n sai d media.