AIM: This clinical audit evaluates the quality of orthodontic practice, focusing on documentation, attendance, emergency handling, and financial management at the orthodontic postgraduate clinic.
METHODS: This clinical audit included 110 patients who completed their orthodontic treatment care under postgraduate students from April 2023 to June 2024. The audit checklist was adapted from the available standards and guidelines. The audit was divided into two parts: details of the tenth criteria for the examination and diagnosis (ED) form and six assessment attributes, namely, treatment progress records. The level of compliance was measured as the percentage of records meeting the criteria. The data were statistically analysed with SPSS.
RESULTS: Out of the records reviewed, 80 (72.7%) were found to be fully documented, although radiographic findings and supervisor signatures were frequently missing. Additionally, 64.5% of patients had non-attendance exceeding 8 weeks, which was strongly correlated with longer treatment times (r = 0.744, p audit included a structured checklist and actionable recommendations.
CONCLUSION: The clinical audit showed high compliance with ED form and treatment progress documentation, highlighting strengths, identifying gaps, and emphasizing accuracy, confidentiality, and improvement.
METHODS: Clinical audit learning was introduced in Year 3 of a 5-year curriculum for dental undergraduates. During classroom activities, students were briefed on clinical audit, selected their audit topics in groups of 5 or 6 students, and prepared and presented their audit protocols. One chosen topic was RCT, in which 3 different cohorts of Year 3 students conducted retrospective audits of patients' records in 2012, 2014 and 2015 for their compliance with recommended record keeping criteria and their performance in RCT. Students were trained by and calibrated against an endodontist (κ ≥ 0.8). After each audit, the findings were reported in class, and recommendations were made for improvement in performance of RCT and record keeping. Students' compliance with published guidelines was presented and their RCT performances in each year were compared using the chi-square test.
RESULTS: Overall compliance with of record keeping guidelines was 44.1% in 2012, 79.6% in 2014 and 94.6% in 2015 (P = .001). In the 2012 audit, acceptable extension, condensation and the absence of mishap were observed in 72.4, 75.7% and 91.5%; in the 2014 audit, 95.1%, 64.8% and 51.4%; and in 2015 audit, 96.4%, 82.1% and 92.8% of cases, respectively. In 2015, 76.8% of root canal fillings met all 3 technical quality criteria when compared to 48.6% in 2014 and 44.7% in 2012 (P = .001).
CONCLUSION: Clinical audit-feedback cycle is an effective educational tool for improving dental undergraduates' compliance with record keeping and performance in the technical quality of RCT.