Audit of quality in a radiological department--a pilot study.

As part of the development of an auditing system for this department, a pilot study was designed to audit the quality of the product leaving the department. One hundred and six patient investigations were reviewed. For each investigation 26 items which were considered to reflect the quality of information on the request card, the films, the report and the condition of the film packets were assessed using a simple scoring system. Overall performances for various aspects of the departmental 'product', and for groups of staff within the department, were derived from these scores. Several problem areas were identified. Individual items were then scrutinized for recurring low scores and where scores fell outside a predetermined range steps were taken to improve standards. The scoring system developed is simple, easy and effective in use. It is considered that audit of quality is worthwhile and should be extended to become a routine part of departmental management.