Quality Control in Urodynamic. an Audit of 100 Female Urodynamic Traces. a Uk District General Hospital Experience

Hypothesis / aims of study Quality control is a procedure intended to ensure that a product or performed service adheres to a defined set of criteria or meets the requirement of the client. This practice is well established in the industrial sector, however, it is not so commonly used in the medical sector. As management depends on correct diagnosis, quality control in medicine is vital. There have been several studies that showed that many of the Urodynamic traces are of poor quality and lack basic quality control. Moreover, different terminology has been used, making it difficult to compare outcomes which sometimes leads to misinterpretation of results from different studies. The Standardization Committee of the International Continence Society took the initiative and introduced a standardization of terminology in lower urinary tract function as well as the Good Urodynamic Practice Report. This has made it easier to compare results from different studies and to use the data as a gold standard for auditing purpose. There have been several studies about the quality control in Urodynamic traces. Most of these studies came from tertial referring specialised units, which might have a different outcome than a Urodynamic unit in a District General Hospital. The aim of our audit is to investigate the quality of Urodynamic traces in our unit, to compare our Urodynamic practice with the gold standards described by the ICS and other published data and to identify aspects of our practice that need improvement.