Audit and academic departments of general practice: a survey in the United Kingdom and Eire.

A questionnaire and telephone survey was carried out in April 1991 of all 31 academic departments of general practice in the United Kingdom and Eire; 30 departments responded. The aim of the study was to assess the departments' level of involvement in teaching about audit in the undergraduate curriculum, their role in the development of audit in primary care including involvement with medical audit advisory groups, whether they undertook teaching about audit to other health professionals and whether they were involved in audit related research. Eleven of 27 responding undergraduate departments provided formal teaching about audit and five intended to introduce it in the near future. Respondents expressed concerns about teaching audit to undergraduates, including lack of time in the curriculum, difficulties making the teaching relevant and interesting, and a lack of expertise and knowledge of the subject among the staff. All 29 departments in the UK were represented on medical audit advisory groups, and audit related research was being carried out in 24 undergraduate departments. The role of academic departments of general practice in the development of audit in primary care is discussed.