The quality assurance committee in a general hospital: its use in improvement of the medical record.

A twice-yearly audit of a sample of medical records from each department of a general hospital was initiated by a quality assurance committee and pursued for 8 years. Missing entries that were considered obligatory for good medical performance of each service were identified, and the results (expressed as percent of missing entries of the total) were communicated in graphic form to the specific departments and the senior staff of the hospital. This approach led to an improvement in the medical records (decrease of missing entries), which may reflect a higher quality of medical care. Thus, a sequential audit of medical records by a quality assurance committee may constitute a simple and effective method of monitoring and improving physicians' knowledge and performance.