Clinical Audit Skills - Information

Overview

The Certificate in Clinical Audit Skills course was established in 1997. The course has now been running for five years and has proved extremely popular with both primary care and community trust staff. Over 80 learners have successfully gained their certificate since 1997. 

The Certificate is a program which values learning that takes place in the workplace and offers professional accreditation for this. A recent evaluation of the course showed that 96% of learners would recommend the certificate to others. 

 

Why the Certificate was Launched

The Primary Care Audit Group launched the Certificate in Clinical Audit Skills course for two key reasons: 

The PCAG’s main role is to support and promote clinical audit at a primary care level across Leicestershire. Therefore the course helps us to encourage clinical audit in general practice by education, training and professional development. 

PCAG are aware that many members of the healthcare team are involved in carrying out clinical audit. By establishing the certificate the PCAG see staff receiving recognition and accreditation for their efforts.

 

Course Structure

The Certificate in Clinical Audit Skills takes all learners through an audit project of their own choice. By undertaking an audit relevant to learners it is hoped that healthcare staff will gain a full understanding of the different aspects of clinical audit. The PCAG have identified ten separate stages of the audit process, and students will learn about each section, these are: 

1                    Clinical Audit – a basic understanding

2                    Choosing a topic for audit

3                    Choosing appropriate criteria for an audit topic

4                    Setting appropriate standards for an audit topic

5                    Choosing an appropriate methodology for an audit topic

6                    Designing a data collection sheet

7                    Collecting the data

8                    Analysing the results

9                    Recommending changes

10                Re-audit

 

Learner Support

All learners are supported throughout the course by a tutor this is usually a member of the PCAG team. Learners are encouraged to contact their tutor at various points along the audit cycle so that progress can be monitored. 

In September each year we hold a seminar to launch the course. Throughout the year a series of eight help day sessions are provided for learners on the course; a number of these sessions include a teaching session relevant to a learning component on the course.