Audit and feedback is commonly used as a strategy to improve professional practice. It appears logical that healthcare professionals would be prompted to modify their practice if given feedback that their clinical practice was inconsistent with that of their peers or accepted guidelines.
Key messages
- Audit and feedback can be effective in improving professional practice. The effects are generally small to moderate, but may be worthwhile.
- The evidence does not support mandatory use of audit and feedback as an intervention to change practice.
- The relative effects of audit and feedback are more likely to be larger when baseline compliance to recommended practice is low and when feedback is provided more intensively.
- Decisions about if and how to use audit and feedback to improve professional practice must be guided by pragmatic factors and local circumstances, including whether:
−The known or anticipated baseline compliance to guidelines is low;
−Conducting an audit is feasible and the costs of collecting data are low;
−Routinely collected data are reliable and could be used for the audit;
−Small to moderate improvements would be worthwhile.
