Seoul National University Bundang Hospital (SNUBH)’s Department of Rehabilitation Medicine has won the certification from the Commission on Accreditation of Rehabilitation Facilities (CARF) for the first time in Korea, the hospital said Wednesday.

CARF is an international nonprofit assessment organization that assesses the quality of rehabilitation medical services, equivalent to the Joint Commission International (JCI) certification in rehabilitation area. Currently, 26,231 medical institutions in 24 countries, including many in North America, obtained the CARF certification.

CARF announced that the rehabilitation department of SNUBH shows high levels of facilities, personnel, equipment, patient safety, patient care, continuous quality control and comprehensive rehabilitation program.

In particular, the commission highly evaluated SNUBH’s patient and evidence-based comprehensive rehabilitation treatment, safety management, the level of the medical staff, the management of the clinical quality index based on electronic medical information system as well as its efforts for continuous patient management through a network of cooperative hospitals, the hospital said.

The first CARF certification in Korea is meaningful because it has officially recognized the rehabilitation medical service of SNUBH meets international standards, it added.

"With this certification, we will continue to improve the quality of rehabilitation medical care, present and guide the standard of domestic rehabilitation service, and continue to spread the systematically equipped system and treatment process internationally," said Professor Lim Jae-young_임재영 of the Department of Rehabilitation Medicine.