Abstract
AIMS: To test whether participation in clinical audit is associated with improved care of a long-term health condition. METHODS: Real world study comparing 1339 patients of all ages and severity of asthma managed by 77 self-selected highly motivated general practices in Scotland with 9617 patients from 319 practices from a national sample. RESULTS: Patients managed by audit practices had more structured clinical reviews by nurses [817 (61 versus 4301 (45 OR 0.52, 95% CI 0.46?0.58] and less acute GP contacts [440 (33 v 4161 (43 OR 1.56, CI 1.38?1.56]. Consequently they experienced more checking of inhaler technique, use of peak flow meters and self- management plans. Audit patients had more symptom free days [365 (42 v 2216 (23 OR 0.80, CI 0.70.0.91], and fewer asthma attacks [217 (16 v 1938 (20 OR 1.30, CI 1.12.1.53]. They made less use of hospital services including A38;E [30 (2 v 326 (3 OR 1.53, CI 1.03,2.28] and outpatients [42 (3 v 459 (5 OR 1.55, CI 1.11.2.16]. CONCLUSIONS: Patients with asthma benefit from being managed by a practice involved in a programme of audit.
| Original language | Undefined/Unknown |
|---|---|
| Pages (from-to) | 198-204 |
| Number of pages | 7 |
| Journal | Primary Care Respiratory Journal |
| Volume | 13 |
| Issue number | 4 |
| DOIs | |
| Publication status | Published - 1 Dec 2004 |
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