ABSTRACT
Surgeons are innovators and a key aspect of a surgical career is to constantly adapt, tweak and improve surgical techniques and treatments to provide the best outcomes for those under our care. This chapter outlines both how to undertake a successful audit cycle and how to design and conduct a surgical research study. Health professionals are expected to undertake audit and service evaluation as part of quality assurance. Clinical audit is a process used by clinicians who seek to improve patient care. One of the most common reasons for the failure of an otherwise good research project is failure to involve others. Interventional clinical or device trials are regulated by the Medicines and Healthcare products Regulatory Agency in the UK. Statistical computer packages offer a quick way of analysing descriptive statistics such as mean, median and range, as well as the most commonly used statistical tests such as the chi-squared test.
