Following Stephen Ayres's online presentation at HLG concerning Clinical Audit, which I mentioned on this blog on 28th June, I have now read an interesting article on the subject in the hard copy of the BMJ for 24th July 2010. The article gives an example of an area where NHS staff are failing to correctly assimilate and use existing knowledge and procedures and where it is argued Clinical audit could help bring practice up to the standard of current knowledge and, in short, save lives. The article, Clinical Audit: Why it Mattters, by Alan Fayaz, highlights reports of 11 deaths aond one case of severe harm as a result of misplaced feeding tubes during the period 2003-5. To reduce this harm, the National Reporting and Learning Service issued an alert in 2005 with guidelines directed at NHS acute trusts, but instead of the situation improving there have been a further 79 cases of misplaced nasogastric tubes since the alert, of which 21 were thought to have directly contributed to a death. The guidelines existed but had not been followed.
A formal clinical audit cycle, where standards are identified and current practice is compared against those standards, examining the reasons for shortfalls and planning and agreeing action to bring about improvements, should practicioners change their behaviour in accordance with new guidelines, yet although audit is now obligatory for junior doctors in training, the Chief Medical Officer pointed out in 2006 that the term "national clinical audit" is a misnomer since few organisations formally follow this cycle.
The article provides proof that NHS staff need help in following clinical audits. This may be help that libraries can provide.
A formal clinical audit cycle, where standards are identified and current practice is compared against those standards, examining the reasons for shortfalls and planning and agreeing action to bring about improvements, should practicioners change their behaviour in accordance with new guidelines, yet although audit is now obligatory for junior doctors in training, the Chief Medical Officer pointed out in 2006 that the term "national clinical audit" is a misnomer since few organisations formally follow this cycle.
The article provides proof that NHS staff need help in following clinical audits. This may be help that libraries can provide.
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