Clinical audit

According to the Law of 28 May 2019 on radiation protection, an establishment in which medical radiological procedures are performed must carry out clinical audits.

The clinical audit is a process for improving the quality of patient care.

Its main features are a systematic review of care against agreed standards of good practice, to see whether standards are being met and, if necessary, how improvements could be made.

Clinical audits have long been applied in the different areas of healthcare. In general, they ae introduced as a requirement of the Ministries of health and their local counterparts, as well as professional bodies, through the implementation of quality systems.

The clinical audit was introduced specifically for medical radiology procedures:

• through the European Directive on medical exposure 97/43/Euratom and, more recently
• through the EC Basic Safety Standards Directive (BSSD) 2013/59/Euratom.