Surgical audit: are we not closing the loop?
International Journal of Health Care Quality Assurance
ISSN: 0952-6862
Article publication date: 8 October 2018
Abstract
Purpose
A clinical audit is a key component of the clinical governance framework. The rate of audit completion in general surgery has not been investigated. The purpose of this paper is to assess the rates of audit activity and completion and explore the barriers to successful audit completion.
Design/methodology/approach
This was a multi-centre study evaluating current surgical audit practice. A standardised audit proforma was designed. All clinical audits in general surgery during a two-year period were identified and retrospectively reviewed. Data held by the audit departments were collated, and individual audit teams were contacted to verify the data accuracy. Audit teams failing to complete the full audit cycle with a re-audit were asked to explain the underlying reasons behind this.
Findings
Of the six trusts approached, two refused to participate, and one failed to initiate the project. A total of 39 audits were registered across three surgical directorates. Only 15 out of 39 audits completed at least one audit cycle, with 4 deemed of no value to re-audit. Only seven audits were completed to re-audit. Achieving a publication or a presentation was the most cited reason for not completing the audit loop.
Originality/value
This study demonstrates that the poor rates of audit completion rate found in other areas of clinical medicine pervade general surgery. Improved completion of an audit is essential and strategies to achieve this are urgently needed.
Keywords
Acknowledgements
The authors would like to thank Myles Roach, Elizabeth Kane, Videha Sharma and Jenny Poland for their help in collating audit data. The authors would also like to acknowledge the assistance of the Liverpool Trainee Research Collaborative (LTRC) in running the study.
Citation
Dunne, D., Lal, N., Pranesh, N., Spry, M., Mcfaul, C. and Rooney, P. (2018), "Surgical audit: are we not closing the loop?", International Journal of Health Care Quality Assurance, Vol. 31 No. 8, pp. 966-972. https://doi.org/10.1108/IJHCQA-06-2017-0109
Publisher
:Emerald Publishing Limited
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