Family Practice, Vol 14, 107-111, Copyright © 1997 by World Organization of Family Doctors
R Baker and RC Fraser
BACKGROUND: It is commonly accepted that ownership is an important factor
in determining the acceptability and use of protocols or guidelines.
OBJECTIVES: We aimed to determine whether Medical Audit Advisory Groups
(MAAGs) are prepared to accept and use audit protocols developed
systematically by an external agency. METHOD: A postal questionnaire was
sent to all 105 MAAG chairmen in England and Wales to seek their views on
the external development of protocols, the inclusion of evidence-based
prioritized criteria, the general design of the protocols issued by the
Lilly Audit Centre and the numbers of practices reported by MAAGs as making
use of at least one of the first four protocols issued. RESULTS:
Ninety-five MAAGs (90%) responded. Of these, 86% were in favour of the
external development of protocols, and 98% and 94%, respectively, found
evidence-based and prioritized criteria valuable; 98% felt the overall
design and content of the Audit Centre protocols were excellent or good. A
total of 1018 practices was known to have made use of one of these
protocols, 261 taking part in multi-practice audits organized by their
MAAGs. CONCLUSION: Ownership is not necessarily more important than
scientific credibility and/or perceived utility. Externally developed audit
protocols containing evidence-based, prioritized review criteria are
acceptable to MAAGs, which are prepared to recommend their use in practice.
Accordingly, such systematically developed protocols offer a promising and
practical method for improving clinical effectiveness. Further research is
needed, however, to determine the comparative impact on standards of care
of protocols and other methods such as clinical guidelines.
ORIGINAL CLINICAL RESEARCH
Is ownership more important than the scientific credibility of audit protocols? A survey of medical audit advisory groups
Eli Lilly National Clinical Audit Centre, Department of General Practice and Primary Health Care, University of Leicester, Leicester General Hospital, UK.
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