Introducing a new improved audit for 2023

Following a comprehensive evaluation of the National Stroke Audit program, we’ve made substantial changes to bring it more into line with the living guidelines and meet the needs of stroke clinicians.

Overseeing all these changes is our new Stroke Data Coordinator, Ashleigh Mamo. She shared a little bit about herself and what changes have been made to the audit.

What is your background?

My background is in public health policy and promotion, and my experience includes project management, relationship management, data capture and reporting. All of which is part of coordinating the audit!

How long have you been with Stroke Foundation?

I began my time with the Stroke Foundation in 2020, working on roles such as StrokeLine Outreach in NSW, and more recently coordinating the National Webinar Series.

My new role as the Stroke Data Coordinator started in February this year, to oversee the National Stroke Audit Program.

What did the audit evaluation tell us?

In the evaluation, clinicians told us that they wanted data that was robust and relevant to their practice, but that didn’t carry a big data entry burden.

We’ve set out to make these changes to make sure the audit meets the needs of clinicians.

How has the audit changed this year?

We’ve responded to the feedback we received with a significant review of the Stroke Foundation’s Clinical Audit. There will be a 50% reduction the number of Clinical Audit questions this year, with the questions remaining focussing on core processes of stroke care.

To make the data analysis and benchmarking more meaningful, we are increasing the number of cases audited to at least 60 cases (or for large sites, >600 admissions, we propose 10% of annual cases).

In the Organisational Survey, the TIA questions have been reworded to align with the Living Guidelines, and a new question has been added in to address the new communication partner training recommendation in the Guidelines.

There are also some wording changes in the Auditing Guidance sections to make questions easier to interpret. For example, there’s new Auditing Guidance on what constitutes co-located beds.

What’s the timeframe for this year’s audit?

Following clinicians’ requests, we’ve changed the 6-month period for the retrospective case reviews from July–December to June–November. This better reflects usual practice.

We have also changed the timing of the data entry this year to start a little later, with the Organisational Survey and the Clinical Audit now opening on 1 May.  The Organisational Survey will close on 2 June and the Clinical Audit will close on 30 June.

There is a slightly tighter time frame to crunch the numbers and write reports, but we are aiming to have reports completed by 30 October.

What do you like to do in your spare time?

In my spare time I enjoy going to the beach, painting and playing board games with friends.

How can people find out more about the audit?

Head to InformMe for more information or get in touch via email at audit@strokefoundation.org.au