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BMC veterinary research2016; 12; 40; doi: 10.1186/s12917-016-0661-4

A systematic review of clinical audit in companion animal veterinary medicine.

Abstract: Clinical audit is a quality improvement process with the goal of continuously improving quality of patient care as assessed by explicit criteria. In human medicine clinical audit has become an integral and required component of the standard of care. In contrast, in veterinary medicine there appear to have been a limited number of clinical audits published, indicating that while clinical audit is recognised, its adoption in veterinary medicine is still in its infancy. A systematic review was designed to report and evaluate the veterinary literature on clinical audit in companion animal species (dog, cat, horse). A systematic search of English and French articles using Proquest Dissertations and Theses database (February 6, 2014), CAB Abstracts (March 21, 2014 and April 4, 2014), Scopus (March 21, 2014), Web of Science Citation index (March 21, 2014) and OVID Medline (March 21, 2014) was performed. Included articles were those either discussing clinical audit (such as review articles and editorials) or reporting parts of, or complete, audit cycles. Results: The majority of articles describing clinical audit were reviews. From 89 articles identified, twenty-one articles were included and available for review. Twelve articles were reviews of clinical audit in veterinary medicine, five articles included at least one veterinary clinical audit, one thesis was identified, one report was of a veterinary clinical audit website and two articles reported incomplete clinical audits. There was no indication of an increase in the number of published clinical audits since the first report in 1998. However, there was evidence of article misclassification, with studies fulfilling the criteria of clinical audit not appropriately recognised. Quality of study design and reporting of findings varied considerably, with information missing on key components, including duration of study, changes in practice implemented between audits, development of explicit criteria and appropriate statistical analyses. Conclusions: Available evidence suggests the application and reporting of clinical audit in veterinary medicine is sporadic despite the potential to improve patient care, though the true incidence of clinical audit reporting is likely to be underestimated due to incorrect indexing. Reporting standards of clinical audits are highly variable, limiting evaluation, application and repeatability of published work.
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Publication Date: 2016-02-26 PubMed ID: 26920614PubMed Central: PMC4769507DOI: 10.1186/s12917-016-0661-4Google Scholar: Lookup
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  • Journal Article
  • Review
  • Systematic Review

Summary

This research summary has been generated with artificial intelligence and may contain errors and omissions. Refer to the original study to confirm details provided. Submit correction.

The research article analyzes the extent to which clinical audit, a process aimed at enhancing quality of patient care, is incorporated and reported in the field of veterinary medicine. The study uses a systematic review on articles published in English and French, related to clinical audits in the treatment of companion animal species, focusing on the irregular application of these audits in veterinary medicine and the often inadequate standards of reporting on them.

Methodology

  • The research systematically combed through multiple databases – Proquest Dissertations and Theses, CAB Abstracts, Scopus, Web of Science Citation Index, and OVID Medline – to find articles discussing or reporting on clinical audits within the veterinary medicine domain, specifically concerning dogs, cats, and horses.
  • It included articles that either discussed the concept of clinical audit, such as review articles and editorials, or reported on parts of or complete audit cycles.

Findings

  • Of 89 identified articles, 21 were suitable and available for review. These featured different types of discussion on clinical audit, varying from reviews, clinical audit reporting, a related thesis, reporting from a veterinary clinical audit website, to descriptions of incomplete clinical audits.
  • There was no observed increase in the frequency of published clinical audits since the inception of the first report in 1998.
  • The researchers discovered misclassification of articles. Some studies that fulfilled the criteria for a clinical audit weren’t properly recognized as such.
  • The quality of study design and reporting varied widely, and there were significant lapses in crucial information, including the duration of the study, changes implemented between audits, the development of specific criteria, and appropriate statistical analysis.

Conclusions

  • The systematic review found that the application and reporting of clinical audits within veterinary medicine is inconsistent, despite the potential benefits to patient care.
  • It also revealed that the number of clinical audit reports could be higher than identified, due to incorrect indexing.
  • The variation and lower standards regarding the reporting of clinical audits hamper evaluation and the ability to replicate the published work.

Cite This Article

APA
Rose N, Toews L, Pang DS. (2016). A systematic review of clinical audit in companion animal veterinary medicine. BMC Vet Res, 12, 40. https://doi.org/10.1186/s12917-016-0661-4

Publication

BMC veterinary research
ISSN: 1746-6148
NlmUniqueID: 101249759
Country: England
Language: English
Volume: 12
Pages: 40
PII: 40

Researcher Affiliations

Rose, Nicole
  • Western Veterinary Specialist and Emergency Centre, Calgary, AB, Canada. nicole.rose66@gmail.com.
Toews, Lorraine
  • Health Sciences Library, University of Calgary, Calgary, AB, Canada. ltoews@ucalgary.ca.
Pang, Daniel S J
  • Veterinary Clinical and Diagnostic Sciences, Faculty of Veterinary Medicine, University of Calgary, Calgary, AB, Canada. dsjpang@ucalgary.ca.
  • Hotchkiss Brain Institute, University of Calgary, Calgary, AB, Canada. dsjpang@ucalgary.ca.

MeSH Terms

  • Animals
  • Cats
  • Clinical Audit
  • Dogs
  • Horses
  • Pets

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