Audit
- Quality control process
- Critical and systematic review of practice against set standard
- Aim to improve quality of surgical care
Audit subtypes
- Structure: - organisation, resources
- Process: - way in which patient has been managed from admission to discharge
- Outcome: - outcome of surgical intervention
Stages in Audit process
- Define audit topic
- Collect data + verification by peer review
- Data analysis
- Presentation of results + recommendations
- Re-audit
Requires honesty, completeness, objectivity
Examples
- NCEPOD (National Confidential Enquiry into Peri-operative Deaths
- Improve standards of surgical practice
- ICNARC (Intensive Care National Audit And Research Centre)
- MINAP (Myocardial Infarction National Audit Project)