Medical audit activity in primary and secondary care in the west of Scotland.
OBJECTIVE
To look at the level of activity and motivation towards audit in primary and secondary care in the West of Scotland.


METHODS
An anonymised postal questionnaire survey.


METHODS
Area covered by six Health Boards in West of Scotland.


METHODS
150 GPs and 150 hospital-based clinicians randomly selected from two departmental databases.


RESULTS
There appears to be a rule of diminishing returns in operation where half of those involved in audit have completed a project and half again have repeated a project. The current level of activity is significantly higher in secondary than primary care (chi 2 p = 0.05). There is significantly more audit activity in teaching than non-teaching hospitals (chi 2 p = 0.01) and significantly more GPs from larger practices have been involved in audit than those from smaller practices (chi 2 p = 0.05). All of those involved in audit have set standards. Levels of motivation towards audit were significantly higher amongst hospital-based clinicians than general practitioners (chi 2 p = 0.001).


CONCLUSIONS
There has been a widespread involvement in audit in both primary and secondary care in the West of Scotland, but activity and enthusiasm or motivation are lower amongst general practitioners.
Kinn
S R
SR
Scottish Clinical Audit Resource Centre, Glasgow University.
Smith
P J
PJ
D001291:Attitude of Health Personnel; D006801:Humans; D008485:Medical Audit; D008505:Medical Staff, Hospital; D009042:Motivation; D010821:Physicians, Family; D012606:Scotland; D011795:Surveys and Questionnaires