A survey of foundation dentists' experiences of clinical audit

Abstract

Introduction Clinical audit is one of the central pillars of clinical governance and is a valuable quality improvement tool. Clinical audit has benefits for all stakeholders and provides evidence of compliance with the requirements of the UK statutory regulatory bodies. The levels of knowledge, experience and understanding of clinical audit of recent UK graduates is variable.Aim To explore foundation dentists' experiences of clinical audit and to identify opportunities for improvement in the teaching of clinical audit in their dental foundation training.Method An online survey was sent out to 231 foundation dentists who had recently completed their foundation programme, mandated audit project in the Midlands and East of England regions in July 2022.Results A total of 40 foundation dentists completed the survey (17% response rate). The results show 30% of respondents feeling well-prepared before their audit project, 45% of respondents were neutral in their response and only 25% felt unprepared for their audit project.Discussion Several opportunities for improvement in the teaching of clinical audit in dental foundation training were identified, such as development of an online resource bank.