Topic 8: clinical audit - practical guidance Flashcards
NHS England definition of audit
clinical audit is a way to find out if healthcare is being provided in line with standards and allows care providers and patients to know where their service is doing well and where there could be improvements
what is the aim of an audit
to allow quality improvement to take place where it will be most helpful and improve outcomes for patients
clinical audits
look at care nationwide
local clinical audits
performed locally in trusts, hospitals, gp practices
3 types of audit
- structure of care
- process of care
- outcome of care
structure of care
- refer to resources required eg availability of smoking cessation clinical
process of care
refers to actions and decisions taken by practitioners together with users eg waiting times for an appt at smoking cessation clinical
outcome of care
measure physical or behaviour response to an intervention eg number of smokers who quit smoking for a year
what is a retrospective audit
audit where data is already available before audit process has begun - data can be stored on electronic database and are searchable
- can yield large sample sizes for retrospective analysis
what is a prospective audit
where data is actively collected, otherwise not available
- eg looking though pt notes and developing own database
- allows for dynamic change of data
types of clinical audits
- standard based audits (see if standards being met)
- adverse. critical incident
- peer review
- patient surveys
why is it important to perform clinical audit
- situation changed
- duty of care
- duty to deliver best quality service
- more accountability for our actions
who is clinical audit required by
- government (employers)
- HCPC (regulatory body)
- SoR (professional body)
what is clinical governance defined as
NHS organisations accountable for continually improving quality of their services and safeguarding high standards of care
- sustain and improve high standards of patient care
- research can be apart of clinical governance
why is it important to perform clinical audit
- critical analysis of own skills and ways of working
- critical look at system that delivers care to patients
- can make real difference and change things for better
what does clinical audit achieve
- best practice
- best outcome
- best service we can deliver
- improved care of patients
- enhanced professionalism of staff
- efficient use of resources
- continuing education
- administration
- accountability
audit verses research
- research tries to find out what you should be doing where audit tells you if what you are doing is correct
- research seeks new knowledge where audit reviews current practice to stimulate change
- research defines standards where audit results are compared to standards
what is on going and never involves an experimental treatment and is practice based
clinical audit
what is theory driven, a one off project and may involve an experimental treatment/ placebo
research project
is an ethical committee approval required for clinical audit
no, letter to confirm support to the project undertaken by trust
service evaluation
does not apply improvement, just compares current practice to best practice
requirements to perform clinical audit
- careful planning
- involve others
- open and transparent
- positive and constructive
- focused
- non aggressive
- non judgemental
what should be the subject of an audit
- anything of concern, importance or relevance
- RCR, SoR/ HCPC
