A role for clinical audit and peer review in the identification of continuing professional development needs for general dental practitioners: a discussion

The purpose of this paper is to discuss how the role of peer review and clinical audit may be used in the identification of the continuing professional development (CPD) needs of general dental practitioners (GDPs). Clinical audit and peer review are intrinsically valuable in terms of the continued professional development of GDPs. Collaborative clinical audit, in particular, can provide a framework for short course input and there are particular benefits to this combination of activities which might usefully be more widely encouraged. If open to analysis in a way which retains individual anonymity, peer review and clinical audit resumes, these could be used to inform the provision of CPD and, linked to the knowledge of audit facilitators, short courses might more closely match the CPD needs of local dentists.