CHAPTER 1 Introduction to surgery
Evidence-based medicine
Evidence-based medicine is a lifelong process which involves:
Evidence-based medicine has the following advantages:
Clinical audit
Clinical audit is a continuous cycle of quality improvement that seeks to improve patient care and service delivery through systematic review of care against explicit criteria and the implementation of change. The clinical audit process is known as the audit cycle. This involves observation of existing practice, the setting of standards, comparison between observed and set standards, implementation of change and re-audit of clinical practice (Fig. 1.1). The main components of the audit cycle are:
Benefits of undertaking clinical audit:
How does audit differ from research?
Consent
For consent to be valid, the patient must have the capacity to:
Consent should be informed, i.e. the patient should be given the full information about:
Consent must be voluntary, i.e. not the result of coercion by medical staff, relatives or friends.