Diabetes complication screening in general practice: a two pass audit with benchmarking.

AIM

To determine whether a two pass audit cycle of diabetes complication screening improves screening rates.

METHODS

General practitioners in North Canterbury were invited to participate in a diabetes complications screening audit. Key complication screening tasks and maximum screening intervals were agreed. Patients with diabetes were identified in the primary care setting. General practitioners were given the option of participating in group feedback sessions between the first and second passes of the audit cycle.

RESULTS

106 general practitioners and 2234 patients participated in the first pass. Ninety-three of these 106 general practitioners and 2169 patients participated in the second pass. Screening rates either improved or remained unchanged and a small improvement was seen in the study population's risk factor profile (i.e. total cholesterol and glycated haemoglobin). The group feedback sessions facilitated discussion on interpretation of results from the benchmarking exercise, the optimal time interval between screening procedures and the development of general practice diabetes data sets.

CONCLUSION

This two pass primary care audit of diabetes complications screening resulted in improved screening rates for diabetes complications and a small improvement in the study population's risk factor profile.