Professional and clinical audit

Professional and clinical audit

The range and complexity of healthcare services being provided to patients mean that there is now a need to look more critically at the effectiveness of what is being delivered. Professional self-examination in healthcare dates back more than a century, but the widespread implementation of clinical audit started in earnest in the early 1990s.⁶⁸ This resulted from a number of important factors: (1) public expectations that professionals can deliver and maintain high standards of care; (2) government pressures to make healthcare professionals more accountable; and (3) the need to enhance and maintain professional credibility.

Clinical pharmacists can be involved in many different types of audit. These may range from topics including audit of clinical services themselves (for example, clinical pharmacy interventions) or may examine which treatments are used and how they are implemented within the framework of drug use evaluations. Audit aims to improve patient outcomes by examining how current clinical practice compares to agreed standards of care, implementing any changes necessary and then re-examining practice to ensure that real improvements have been made.

The most obvious benefits of good clinical audit include improvements in the quality of service and treatment. In addition, enhanced professional standing, improved communication with colleagues, increased knowledge, improved work satisfaction, publication opportunities and even promotion have all been put forward as other positive aspects that should encourage healthcare staff to get involved.

Clinical audit is pivotal in patient care: it brings together professionals from all sectors of healthcare to consider clinical evidence, promote education and research, develop and implement clinical guidelines, enhance information management skills and contribute to better management of resources – all with the aim of improving the quality of care of patients.