ABSTRACT
It can be argued that undertaking professional audit activities is really just part of the ‘professional ethic’ or ‘duty of care’ principle which is intrinsic to good professional behaviour. The basic concept requires pharmacists to continuously review their work practices with a view to maintaining and improving the quality of patient care. In the UK, the recent undertaking of ‘baseline assessments’ of the clinical audit processes, as a first step in the process of clinical governance, by both health authorities and primary care groups has underlined the need to reexamine what is meant by the term ‘audit’.
