Study Guide – Clinical Audit
Introduction
To get the most from this topic, you need to know a little about clinical governance and where audit fits in to it.
Clinical governance is a system for improving the standard of clinical practice.
It was first described in a government white paper as ‘a new system in NHS Trusts and primary care to ensure that clinical standards are met, and that processes are in place to ensure continuous improvement, backed by a new statutory duty for quality in NHS Trusts’.
Clinical governance is composed of the following elements:
- Education.
- Clinical audit.
- Clinical effectiveness.
- Risk management.
- Research and development.
- Openness.
For further information on Clinical Governance, see the document at
http://www.evidence-based-medicine.co.uk/ebmfiles/WhatisClinGov.pdf
Aims and Objectives
This study guide will help you learn how and why to do Clinical Audit.
By the end of the guide, you should be able to
- define clinical audit
- define jargon like “criteria” and “standards”
- explain how to choose a subject for an audit
- know how to collect data for your audit
- be able to make any changes needed as a result of your audit.
How to use this guide
You can use this guide as it stands. However, I’ve given optional further reading or activities, as well as self-assessment tests.
Think: Can you draw the audit cycle? Can you define what is meant by an
audit criterion? And an audit standard? Try writing your answers down.
If you're not sure of the answers, go to the Why audit? page.
If you're fairly confident about the answers, test out your skills on the Instant Audit page.
If you're already an audit expert and just want guidance on planning one for Summative Assessment, go straight to the: Audit and Summative Assessment page.
Next page: Why audit
Back to: "Audit Contents" page
Last update: 16 February 2007