Physicians' knowledge, attitude and practice of clinical audit in a tertiary health facility in a developing country: a cross-sectional study.

Introduction: health outcomes in hospitals can be improved through regular conduct of clinical audit. This study assessed physicians' knowledge, attitude, and practice of clinical audit at the University of Port Harcourt Teaching Hospital (UPTH) in Rivers State. Methods: a descriptive cross-sectional study involving 460 doctors selected through convenience sampling. A pretested selfadministered questionnaire was administered, and data was analysed using the Statistical Package for Social Research (SPSS) 23.0. Results: a total of 457 questionnaires were analyzed giving a response rate of 99.3%. Only 57 (12.5%) of the 457 respondents had a correct understanding of the clinical audit process. Most respondents (75.1%) agreed that clinical audit is important in improving patient care, however only 29.9% were aware that the hospital has a clinical governance structure. Seventy-three (16.0%) doctors had received training in different forms of clinical audit, while 148 (33.0%) were involved in different clinical audit activities, with mortality audit being the most common clinical audit type (81, 17.7%). Conclusion: physicians at the University of Port Harcourt Teaching Hospital have poor understanding of the clinical audit process. The integration and scale-up of clinical audit activities as part of an overall clinical governance system in the teaching hospital is recommended. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]