If you wish to respond to a paper or other item already published in the BJA, please go to the abstract/full text version of that item and click on the link "E-Letters: Submit a response to the article".
Electronic Letters to:
|
|
E-letters: Electronic letters published:
-
![[Read E-letter]](/icons/misc/sectionDOWN.gif)
Re: Audit or something else?
- David J Canty, Colin Royse (21 July 2009)
-
Audit or something else?
- Ian E.C. Maddox (16 July 2009)
|
|
|||
|
David J Canty, Consultant anaesthetist , Colin Royse
Send letter to journal:
|
We thank Dr Maddox for detailing the dictionary definitions to refine the language used in our title. Before “Quality Assurance” it was “Audit”, and so for the majority of clinicians the terms are reasonably interchangeable. As time progresses the use of QA has probably become the dominant term used and our article is certainly intended as a quality assurance process. We do hope that the minor semantics have not diminished the scientific value of the work. Conflict of Interest:None declared |
|||
|
|
|||
|
Ian E.C. Maddox, Registrar, anaesthesia
Send letter to journal:
|
I congratulate the authors on their excellent article. However, I question their use of the term “audit”. The National Institute of Clinical Excellence defines clinical audit as “A quality improvement process that seeks to improve patient care and outcomes through systematic review of care against explicit criteria and the implementation of change.”[1] This definition is the one with which most clinicians would be familiar. It serves to guide doctors on their role in one area of quality assurance. However, another broader and less precise definition is becoming prevalent in medical literature. The Collins Essential English dictionary defines audit as, “Any thoroughgoing assessment or review.” It is this definition which seems to have been used in this article, as well as a number of other recent excellent BJA papers that use the term audit, but which do not measure their findings against explicit criteria.[2,3] As it is a responsibility of all clinicians to be involved in quality assurance, including clinical audit, it is perhaps confusing to have contributions in the BJA deviate from the accepted and precise definition. 1. National Institute of Clinical Excellence. Principles of Best Practice in Clinical Audit. London: NICE, 2002; 1-7 2. Orme RML'E, Oram MP, McKinstry CE. Impact of echocardiography on patient management in the intensive care unit: an audit of district general hospital practice. Br J Anaesth, March 2009; 102: 340 - 344. 3. Cook TM , Counsell D, Wildsmith JAW on behalf of The Royal College of Anaesthetists Third National Audit Project. Major complications of central neuraxial block: report on the Third National Audit Project of the Royal College of Anaesthetists. Br J Anaesth, February 2009; 102: 179 - 190. Conflict of Interest:None declared |
|||