Clinical audit

Clinical audit

A clinical audit is a quality improvement activity designed to improve patient care and outcomes. It’s a systematic review of aspects of clinical performance against explicit predetermined criteria, and the implementation of change when the results indicate standards aren’t being met.

A clinical audit is valuable for reviewing elements of clinical performance and for developing a registrar’s skills in self-reflection and self-directed learning. The results of the audit can lead to changes in an individual’s clinical practice or changes in practice processes, or it may simply confirm that current practice meets the expected standard. The impact of the audit depends on the quality of self-reflection and the provision of effective feedback. A clinical audit is also a useful tool for continuing professional development post-Fellowship.

The clinical audit may explore areas such as:

• rational prescribing of investigations (radiology/pathology)
• management/prescribing
• preventative medicine activities

A clinical audit may be developed and carried out by a registrar with the guidance of their medical educator or supervisor. Although it can be completed at any stage of training, it is recommended the audit be undertaken in GPT3.

Once an audit is completed the registrar analyses the results and discusses the findings with their medical educator who will provide feedback and support the registrar to plan for further skills development in areas identified by the audit.