Chart Audits vs Opinion, Essay Example

Chart Audits

These are widely used in the healthcare community as a means of performing quality control measures.  There are a number of reasons for applying the use of Chart Audits, for example:  1) Required Measurements – The Health Plan Employer Data and Information Set (HEDIS) is but one requirement for performing measures in the healthcare industry and has to be reported on an annual basis. Chart Audits are an important means of gathering the required data  2) Administration – There are a number of Federal regulations that have to be adhered to and Chart Audits is one of the important compliance measurement tools used 3) Research – Data research is used for a variety of reasons including examination of disease symptoms, prevention of disease, impact of treatment strategies etc. The Chart Audits can be focused on clinical strategies and comprise an important input into medical research. 4) Quality Index – Used for measurement of quality of care and how to make process improvements within this area. Audits can be used as an assessment tool with appropriate recommendations for improvement. (Duke University Medical Centre, 2005).

Value of Chart Audits

The value of Chart Audits is that they can be pre-planned and provide a systematic and thorough means of coverage.  This allows for both qualitative and quantitative measurement of the subject area.  As such, this is much more of a scientific approach than that of the ad hoc health care worker enquiry process.  If the latter is unstructured, it also permits more of an opinionated analysis as opposed to gathering true factual data. It may take longer to set up and operate Chart Audits but they have far more value in terms of data interpretation and compilation of useful reports and statistics.  The use of computer based interrogation tools works better on logical and informed data sets.

Primary Health care continues to remain a complex business and as such, Quality Assurance (QA) requires both reliable methods and toolsets in order to accomplish the evaluation objectives. Good results can be obtained by the close examination of medical charts as this provides factual data sets. Chart abstractors are often professional nurses who have a sound background in healthcare and as such extremely familiar with the medical terminology. As such, Chart Audits continue to provide an important role in practice based primary health care and the research exercises conducted in this area. There does however remain an important need to share more information and research tools between regional health authorities.  (Hogg, W. 2011)

Works Cited

Duke University Medical Centre. (2005). Purposes of Chart Audits. Retrieved 7 5, 2011, from QI : Patient quality improvement: http://patientsafetyed.duhs.duke.edu/module_b/purpose.html

Hogg, W. (2011). Conducting Chart Audits in Practice based primary care research. Retrieved 7 6, 2011, from University of Ottawa: http://www.cfp.ca/content/56/5/495.full