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  • Department of Paediatrics
  • Pietermaritzburg Metropolitan Hospitals Complex
  • KwaZulu-Natal Department of Health
  • South Africa
Contents

Audit

The audit process is a key component of quality assurance programmes (QAP). We realize that for many clinicians QAP is a dirty word and is invariably seen as a worthless activity imposed on one by bureaucrats with too much time and too little understanding of the pressures at the clinical coalface.

Reality is different and for anyone who strives for excellence various QAP tools provide a means to assess how close you actually are to excellence.

It is a process of comparing day-to-day reality to the ideal in a structured and objective manner.

It allows "one" to:
  • identify gaps in our systems, processes or care plans;
  • develop responses to reduce these gaps;
  • document progress over time.
It is NOT:
  • a witch hunt;
  • a research process;
  • a waste of time.
To make the process simple, user friendly and beneficial for you we have included a variety of audit tools which can be used at all levels of care. If you would like assistance in using these tools please contact the Department of Paediatrics in Pietermaritzburg.

Norms

A few basic norms are included to assist hospitals with the development or consolidation of infrastructure for the delivery of neonatal or paediatric services.

These include how to calculate the bed allocation for children and newborns; how to use these beds; the basic dimensions, components and support services of a nursery or children’s ward; and what equipment is needed for each level of care.

We suggest that these norms are used to evaluate the appropriateness of your existing services and to support any motivation to improve these.
 
© 2007 Department of Paediatrics, Pietermaritzburg Metropolitan Hospitals Complex.