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Healthcare Management vocabulary · Quality and Accreditation

Clinical audit

Meaning in healthcare management, with examples

nounCommon term

In healthcare management, clinical audit means: A review that compares the care actually given with agreed standards, so that gaps can be found, practice changed and the results checked again.

In Turkish: klinik denetim, klinik audit

How it is used

Common in the UK and in accredited hospitals. Teams carry out an audit, present the findings and 'close the audit loop' by re-auditing after changes. A clinical audit checks practice against a standard, while research asks what the best practice is.

Example sentences

  1. Our clinical audit showed that only 60% of patients had a falls risk assessment on admission.

  2. We will repeat the clinical audit in six months to see if the new checklist works.

Common collocations

  • carry out a clinical audit
  • audit findings
  • re-audit
  • close the audit loop
  • audit cycle
  • quality improvementA planned, continuous effort to make care safer, more effective and more efficient by measuring results, testing changes and learning from them.
  • clinical guidelineA document with evidence-based recommendations on how to diagnose, treat or care for patients with a particular condition.
  • complianceActing in line with laws, regulations, standards and internal policies, and the work of checking and proving that this happens.
  • inspectionAn official visit by a regulator or public authority to check whether a hospital meets legal requirements and standards of care.

More terms: Quality and Accreditation

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