Governance and leadership
Audit, incident learning and supervision improve systems. Define a standard, measure practice, implement change and remeasure.
Understand
Clinical governance joins audit, quality improvement, incident learning, supervision and evidence review. A project needs a question and a measurable standard or aim.
Assess
Define the population, baseline and measures, including possible unintended effects. Involve people doing the work and patients where useful.
Apply
Implement a change and remeasure; publish learning within the team. Data collection without action or a second measurement does not show improvement.
Key distinctions
Audit compares performance with a defined standard and repeats measurement after change. Quality improvement may use iterative small tests and time-series data to understand a process. Clinical governance also includes supervision, continuing learning and incident review. Choose outcome, process and balancing measures so apparent gains do not mask new harm or unsustainable workload.
Think through a case
An audit identifies missing medical history updates, prompting a new prompt and remeasurement. The second cycle shows whether the change helped.
The distinction to remember
Do not present an initial compliance figure as evidence of quality improvement without a tested intervention and follow-up.
Test your recall
What distinguishes an audit cycle from data collection alone?
Show answer
Action and remeasurement against the agreed standard.