Clinical Audits in Outpatient Clinics for Chronic Obstructive Pulmonary Disease: Methodological Considerations and Workflow López-Campos, José Luis Abad Arranz, María Calero Acuña, Carmen Romero Valero, Fernando Ayerbe García, Ruth Hidalgo Molina, Antonio Aguilar Pérez-Grovas, Ricardo Ismael García Gil, Francisco Casas-Maldonado, Francisco Caballero Ballesteros, Laura Sánchez Palop, María Pérez-Tejero, Dolores Segado, Alejandro Calvo Bonachera, José Hernández Sierra, Bárbara Doménech, Adolfo Arroyo Varela, Macarena González Vargas, Francisco Cruz Rueda, Juan José Chronic obstructive pulmonary disease Bronchodilators Drugtherapy Outpatients Hospitals Outpatient clinics Patients Databases Objectives: Previous clinical audits for chronic obstructive pulmonary disease (COPD) have provided valuable information on the clinical care delivered to patients admitted to medical wards because of COPD exacerbations. However, clinical audits of COPD in an outpatient setting are scarce and no methodological guidelines are currently available. Based on our previous experience, herein we describe a clinical audit for COPD patients in specialized outpatient clinics with the overall goal of establishing a potential methodological workflow. Methods: A pilot clinical audit of COPD patients referred to respiratory outpatient clinics in the region of Andalusia, Spain (over 8 million inhabitants), was performed. The audit took place between October 2013 and September 2014, and 10 centers (20% of all public hospitals) were invited to participate. Cases with an established diagnosis of COPD based on risk factors, clinical symptoms, and a post-bronchodilator FEV1/FVC ratio of less than 0.70 were deemed eligible. The usefulness of formally scheduled regular follow-up visits was assessed. Two different databases (resources and clinical database) were constructed. Assessments were planned over a year divided by 4 three-month periods, with the goal of determining seasonal-related changes. Exacerbations and survival served as the main endpoints. Conclusions: This paper describes a methodological framework for conducting a clinical audit of COPD patients in an outpatient setting. Results from such audits can guide health information systems development and implementation in real-world settings. 2016-01-12T10:14:58Z 2016-01-12T10:14:58Z 2015 info:eu-repo/semantics/article López-Campos, J.L.; et al. Clinical Audits in Outpatient Clinics for Chronic Obstructive Pulmonary Disease: Methodological Considerations and Workflow. Plos One, 10(11): e0141856 (2015). [http://hdl.handle.net/10481/39436] 1932-6203 http://hdl.handle.net/10481/39436 10.1371/journal.pone.0141856 eng http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc-nd/3.0/ info:eu-repo/semantics/openAccess Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-NoDerivs 3.0 License Public Library of Science (PLOS)