Endoscopy Unit Receives SIED Accreditation

IRCCS-ISMETT’s Endoscopy Unit has received the accreditation of the Italian Society of Digestive Endoscopy, (SIED – Società Italiana di Endoscopia Digestiva).  This certification is evidence of the high quality standards of care offered to patients at ISMETT. There are only 16 hospitals accredited in Italy, almost all located in the North.   ISMETT is the only hospital in Sicily to have received this prestigious recognition, and the second in the entire southern area of Italy.

“We are proud because ISMETT standards were certified by such an authoritative body as SIED,” said Mario Traina, Director of the Endoscopy Unit.  The accreditation is a very important recognition. The evaluation criteria for the accreditation are quite restrictive, and the very few facilities that have passed the inspection include prestigious hospitals such as the European Institute of Oncology, and IRCCS National Cancer Institute (INT) in Milan.

The SIED accreditation is voluntary, and the goal of the process is to ensure the quality of the standards of care. The accreditation process is based on strict quality requirements that are periodically updated to implement the best scientific evidence-based practices.  The evaluation is periodic in order to guarantee efficiency over time, and is carried out by SIED professionals properly trained according to a peer-review concept, and supported by Kiwa CERMET, an external certification body.

The Endoscopy Unit accreditation is only the latest recognition given to ISMETT in the field of quality.  ISMETT has been accredited for patient care by Joint Commission International (JCI) since 2009. It has also received ISO certification for its diagnostic services and laboratories, the OHSAS (Occupational Health and Safety Assessment Series) certification for the environmental management system, and has been included in the international registry of the Society of Thoracic Surgeons (STS).

ISMETT’s Endoscopy Unit is a center of excellence and advanced research for early diagnosis and therapy of gastrointestinal, pancreas and bile duct diseases and cancer.  Locoregional therapies for the treatment of locally advanced pancreatic cancer (radiofrequency, placement of fiducial markers for targeted radiation therapy) and non-surgical anastomosis treatments (bile and gall bladder drainages, EUS-guided gastro-enteroanastomosis) are the main areas of research.  In addition, the Endoscopy Unit participates in multidisciplinary meetings to support, with its services, all of the clinical and surgical departments of the hospital.