Medical Audit: Rationale and Practicalities

The application of audit to resource allocation and clinical practice has emerged as a fundamental principle in Western medical systems over recent years. Used effectively, audit can have wide-ranging benefits for both the patient and the practitioner, in terms of resource management and quality of care. This book reviews the concepts behind audit and the approaches that individual specialties take. First, the book describes the philosophy of audit and the requirements of various agencies such as the Department of Health and the Royal College of Surgeons for audit. Second, the book outlines the specific requirements of the major specialties and third, the book gives practical suggestions for the development of an audit strategy. There are comparisons between audit performed in the United Kingdom and that performed in the United States and Sweden. Further, the need to consider the relationship between resource management and medical audit particularly with reference to the data requirements is emphasized. Throughout the book the concept of "completing the loop", i.e.the need to effect change from the audit activity is discussed as well as the educational value of audit. The editors have stressed that there are no hard and fast rules in creating an audit strategy and as yet there are few experts.