What is the difference between audit, QI and research?

In medical practice, three common terms that often get confused with one another are audit, quality improvement, and research. While all three are important for ensuring high-quality healthcare delivery, they serve distinct purposes and require different methods and approaches. In this blog post, we will explore the difference between these terms and clarify their unique roles in medical practice.

Audit:

Audit is a process of evaluating clinical practice against a set of pre-defined standards or criteria. The goal of audit is to identify and rectify any gaps or shortcomings in clinical practice that may lead to poor patient outcomes. Audit is a quality assurance process that is undertaken to ensure that healthcare providers adhere to evidence-based guidelines and best practices.

Audits can be carried out at different levels of healthcare delivery, such as at the individual clinician level or at the institutional level. For instance, an individual clinician may carry out an audit of their practice to evaluate how well they are adhering to evidence-based guidelines. On the other hand, an institution may carry out an audit of its clinical services to evaluate how well the institution is providing care to patients.

Quality Improvement:

Quality improvement is a process of continuous evaluation and improvement of healthcare delivery to achieve better patient outcomes. The goal of quality improvement is to identify areas of care that can be refined and to develop and implement strategies to improve the care that is provided.

Quality improvement involves the use of various tools and techniques, such as plan-do-study-act (PDSA) cycles, to test and implement changes in clinical practice. Quality improvement projects are often identified in response to incident reports which can be utilised to highlight areas where clinical practice can be improved.

Research:

Research is a systematic and rigorous process of generating new knowledge about healthcare delivery. The goal of research is to develop new insights and knowledge that can be used to improve healthcare delivery and patient outcomes and provide the data to inform evidence based clinical practice.

Research involves the use of scientific methods to collect and analyse data. It may involve clinical trials, epidemiological studies, or qualitative research methods such as focus groups or interviews. Research is often carried out to answer specific research questions or to test hypotheses about healthcare delivery.

While audit, quality improvement, and research all aim to improve healthcare delivery, they differ in their focus, methods, and objectives. Audit focuses on evaluating clinical practice against pre-defined standards, quality improvement focuses on continuous improvement of healthcare delivery, and research focuses on generating new knowledge about healthcare delivery. All elements influence each other; the evidence base used to set audit standards is based on research and quality improvement projects can identify areas of clinical practice where further research may be required.

All processes are integral to achieving clinical excellence and understanding each will help healthcare providers ensure that they are providing high-quality care to their patients and contributing to the advancement of medical knowledge.