1984 and the medical audit.

Medical audit in its various forms pervades our practices and our medical thinking in 1984. It includes a wide range of purposes and functions, most of which need not be seen as an external "Big Brother". Some form of audit, at least internal, is inherent in professionalism. This article reviews the concepts and principles of medical audit with special emphasis on how to stay out of trouble when faced with external audits done for monitoring purposes.