General Overview of Patient Chart Audits
Can you imagine a typical day of a physician when he or she sees several patients complaining of prolonged fever? Four of them had blood tests in the past few months, but there are no records in the charts for these tests. How could the physician figure out if this was just a bad day, or if there is a systematic problem in the office? They could take a sample of charts forpatients who had fever in the past year, and assess what percentage had a documented reading. If there is a significant percentage without readings, this could be investigated further to figure out what went wrong and where the process failed. What is a Patient Chart Audit? A chart audit is an examination of medical records (electronic and hard copy) to figure out what has been done and determine whether it could be possible in a better manner. Retrospective chart review studies are often required in the absence of suitable healthcare databases and other secondary sources of information. Chart review st...