Funding for this research was provided by:
Ministry of Education and Research in Norway
Article History
Received: 9 May 2019
Accepted: 29 July 2020
First Online: 8 August 2020
Ethics approval and consent to participate
: The research and the procedure for obtaining verbal consent to participate were conducted with the ethical approval of the Norwegian Social Science Data Services (December 16, 2011, Ref. 27543). Clearance for interviews and observations was obtained from the certification body prior to data collection. Interview participants first received an individual written invitation to participate followed by a written and verbal information prior to and at the commencement of recording. All participants provided verbal consent that were documented at the beginning of the recording. The three auditors observed received an individual written information and invitation to participate, and all three responded per e-mail with their consent to participate. Written and verbal information were also given prior to the commencement of observation and all three auditors provided verbal consent. A clearance for observations during the assessment process in the hospitals was obtained from the hospital prior to data collection. Written information about the observation was sent to the hospital and given to the hospital staff taking part during the review process. Before every new review meeting, verbal information about the observation and data collection was given. All the persons from the hospitals that took part in the certification meetings provided verbal consent. All written and verbal information to participants from the certification body and certification participants from the hospitals explained that observations and interviews were part of a research project, that the results would be used anonymously for analysis and publication, and that participation was voluntary and could be terminated at any time.
: Not applicable.
: Author Siri Wiig is associate editor for BMC Health Services Research. The authors declare that they have no competing interests.