Audits

Evidence searches for audits.

The suggested time to allocate to this type of search is 4 to 7 hours.

Planning

Establish what service is being audited from your request. For example, are there:

  • specific setting(s) and population(s)
  • non-arbitrary date ranges to search within
  • geographic or language limits

Would they like to know what other NHS and non-NHS organisations are doing?

Execution

Search for specific audits and audit tools from Healthcare Quality Improvement Partnership’s (HQIP) A to Z of Clinical Audits

Search high tier evidence sources such as:

  • Cochrane Library
  • Trip Database
  • Royal Colleges and other professional bodies (through a Google search)

Keep an eye out for standards and guidance from these sources but do not limit your search to just these things.

Search clinical decision support tools for entries on the requester’s topic, if you have access to them:

  • British Medical Journal (BMJ) Best Practice
  • DynaMed
  • UpToDate
  • Visual Dx

Consider searching for information on conducting audits more generally if you feel that the requester might appreciate this “added value content”.

Perform a thorough search of all appropriate bibliographic databases, and consider a search of preprint servers for the very latest research.

If you need to find reports on other Trusts' advances and activities

If you need to find reports on other Trusts' advances and activities and follow the below steps.

  1. Perform an advanced Google search for the topic with “NHS” in your terms, and/or your country specified as UK.
  2. Limit by domain and/or file type.

Limit by domain

To limit the search results to sites ending with “…nhs.uk” use the limits "site:nhs.uk" or "inurl:nhs".

Limit by file type

To limit by file type, use the "doctype:doc" or "doctype:pdf" limits to pick up policy documents and guidelines from around the country.

Consider also searching NHS Digital, UK Data Service, GOV.UK and the Office for National Statistics (ONS), as well as local sources.

If you need to search for costs and economics

Elton B Stephens Company (EBSCO) EBSCOhost

EBSCOhost features “costs” and “economics” limits that can be applied to Medline and Cumulated Index to Nursing and Allied Health Literature (CINAHL) searches if cost-effectiveness is being considered by your requester.

Other search filters

There are also a range of search filters available from the Economic Evaluations section of The InterTASC Information Specialists' Sub-Group Search Filter Resource (ISSG) or the McMaster University Health Information Resource Unit (HIRU) filters for cost or economics.

The different filters mention what they are specific to. For example, costs, economic evaluations or economic models. It is worth having a look to see which search filter would be most suitable for your search or you may want to adapt a search filter by removing or adding terms.

Results

Present the deduplicated results according to your requester’s stated preference, or where none is stated, in an easy-to-digest and easy-to-share report, in this order.

  1. A summary/synopsis first of all (if possible).
  2. High tier evidence.
  3. Lower-tier/primary research evidence arranged in reverse chronological order (a typical KnowledgeShare report format).

Alternatively, arrange results by themes/categories - consider what would be most helpful to the requester.

Examples

Example 1

Dear …

Please find attached the results of your requested search on: "Does the home oxygen service in […] meet British Thoracic Society (BTS) guidelines? (evidence from 2009-)."

I have attached the BTS guideline for adults, the BTS guideline for children, and the BTS quality standards for adults, as pdfs.

The related research in the attached Word doc. are arranged in reverse chronological order and come from a focused/narrow search of several sources for literature on the topic. I wanted to get you results before the weekend following your urgent request, but if you would like me to repeat the search with revised (broader) criteria, if this report is not what you had in mind, or if you would like me to present the results in a different format then please let me know and I'll be happy to oblige. If you are aware of any papers that my search has not retrieved then please make me aware and I'll use that information to inform another search strategy.

From the attached report you can view the full text of the articles relevant to you by clicking on the blue links to download them using your OpenAthens login details. If you do not currently have an OpenAthens account you can register for one using your NHS email address. You will be sent an email to set your own password.

The articles we do not have direct access to will have to be ordered through our inter-library loans service which may take a few days to arrive. To make article requests you will need to fill out the journal requests form on the Knowledge library services web page at: [link to online request form].

We aim to improve our services in line with your comments. If you could please take a moment to [complete our online feedback form here]we would be very grateful. Could we also contact you to hear how the search impacted your decision making, for a case study please?

Look forward to hearing from you…”

Report compiled by librarian.

Example 2

“The link between Non-invasive ventilation (NIV) pressures and aerophagia in the occupational health and safety (OHS) cohort of patients, to determine if Face to Face (F2F) follow up is required” search for audit.

Report compiled by librarian.

Page last reviewed: 4 August 2023
Next review due: 4 August 2024