Have an action plan for audit
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- Published: Sunday, 29 November -0001 23:58
- Written by News Editor
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Dental audits need not be a box-ticking exercise, says UK-wide dental defence organisation MDDUS. Dental adviser Claire Renton reminds dentists that audits offer a genuine opportunity to improve the efficient running of a practice and ease the strain on busy workloads. MDDUS has highlighted five key steps of an audit that can improve the way dentists carry out their day-to-day tasks.
1) Find a topic relevant to you
“This is an opportunity for dentists to identify something that they want to improve within their working day,” says Mrs Renton. “Don’t fall into the trap of auditing something without having a genuine benefit that it can be achieved as a result of the audit.
2) Setting standards
The next step in the audit process is to define the criteria and standard. “This is relatively easy to do if you chose a clinical audit,” says Mrs Renton. “For example, all dentists are familiar with the idea that 70 per cent of X-rays should ideally be grade one, 20 per cent grade two and 10 per cent grade three.
3) Data collection
Next, dentists must decide what data they are going to collect. “The simplest way is to produce a spreadsheet and fill the data as you go,” says Mrs Renton. “Any data collected from dental records should be verifiable, so while you might wish to exclude personal data such as the patient’s name, it is sensible to develop a code so data can be easily checked at a later date if need be.”
4) Making the change
Once the audit has been submitted for approval and funding, the next step is to establish a baseline in your audit. “This can be done by collecting the initial round of data and then comparing the baseline data to the standard you set and want to achieve,” adds Mrs Renton.
5) Final verdict
“The next and final stage involves analysing the second round of data and evaluating if you have met the target of your audit and then producing and submitting your audit report.”
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