What’s a clinical audit?

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A clinical audit is a system for improving the quality of medical care. It’s not a financial audit, but rather a kind of observation of healthcare in a specific system, a review of practices and standards that lead to better patient outcomes. A clinical audit could be considered to be related to the overall ‘standard of care’ used to ensure quality in a healthcare system.

Forms of clinical audit have been adopted in many countries and regions of the world. Many different terms can be applied to this general process, but the idea of ​​implementing improved quality of care through modern monitoring and observation processes is common to many national health systems. In the UK, for example, the idea of ​​a ‘clinical audit’ is a key part of the country’s NHS.

Items included in the clinical audit could relate to general hygiene at a facility. Other criteria may include listing procedures, considering methods for treatments, or looking for incidents of surgical or pharmaceutical error. Analysts may also refer to additional demographic data such as a mortality or morbidity rate along with clinical audit data.

Several different types of clinical audit frameworks provide different ways of measuring the quality of healthcare. One is a “standards-based audit” in which a standard of care is presented as an applicable benchmark. Another is an “adverse occurrence audit” where analysts look specifically at problematic error rates or negative results. Hospitals and other facilities can also conduct “medical market research” through tools like patient surveys or focus groups.

Clinical audit processes often include multiple steps that are designed to effectively address issues. A first step might have to do with identifying a health problem or a negative result. An additional step could be to check that result against rates in a variety of health care systems. A final step often relates to implementing changes for more positive results.

Outside observers can tell a lot about a facility’s health care policy by looking at its clinical audit systems. The way governments regulate healthcare is reflected in basic public health and safety policy, showing how progressive regulation can improve patient outcomes and overall quality of life in a given system. Much of the analytical process around things like clinical audit relies on the ability of modern technology to easily catalog and work with vast amounts of data. This type of measurement of demographic situations is likely to continue to be a vital part of high-level security review for healthcare, as well as many other types of systems, such as manufacturing.

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