Audit, Service Evaluation & Research Flashcards Preview

Block 1 - Law, ethics and practice > Audit, Service Evaluation & Research > Flashcards

Flashcards in Audit, Service Evaluation & Research Deck (9)
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1
Q

What is clinical audit?

A

“Clinical audit is a continuous cycle of quality improvement that seeks to improve patient care and outcomes through systematic review of care (including procedures and services) against explicit standards and best practice, and to use
any shortfalls in standards of care to enable improvements to be made.” (RPS)

2
Q

Purpose of clinical audit

A

“The aim of a clinical audit is to determine whether a current service or procedure reaches a specified standard, to use that information to inform
improvements in care, and then evaluate those
changes by re-auditing.” (RPS)

3
Q

Why is clinical audit important?

A

• It provides a mechanism for reviewing the quality
of patient care
• It addresses quality issues systematically and explicitly, providing reliable information
• It can highlight areas needing improvement
• It supports the development and improvement of personal professional practice

4
Q

The 7 pillars of clinical governance

A
  1. patient and public involvement
  2. clinical audit
  3. risk management
  4. clinical effectiveness programmes
  5. staffing and staff management
  6. education, training and continuing professional and personal development
  7. use of info to support clinical governance and health care delivery
5
Q

Clinical Audit Cycle

A
  1. Identify problem or issue
  2. Set criteria and standards
  3. Collect data
  4. Analyse data
  5. Implement change
6
Q

Aims of clinical audit:

A

– To determine whether a current service or procedure
reaches a specified standard, to use that information to
inform improvements in care, and evaluate those changes
by re-auditing

7
Q

Aims of service evaluation:

A

To determine what standard a service or procedure

achieves

8
Q

Aims of research:

A

To derive new knowledge by generating or testing a

hypothesis, or by better understanding phenomena

9
Q

Audit, Service evaluation &

Research‐ whatʹs the difference?

A

• Boundaries between audit, service evaluation
and research are not absolute, and they have a lot in common
• Identifying projects as ‘research’, ‘audit’ or
‘service evaluation’ is important, for example, in relation to the need for ethical approval
• Audits & service evaluations do not need ethics approval but care should still be taken to
ensure, for example, confidentiality of
personally-identifiable information