Module manager: Paula Lancaster
Email: P.E.Lancaster@leeds.ac.uk
Taught: Semesters 1 & 2 (Sep to Jun) View Timetable
Year running 2026/27
Must meet the entrance requirements for the MSc Oral Surgery programme
DSUR5362M Clinical Audit and DSUR5303M Service Improvement in Clinical Practice
This module is not approved as an Elective
This module will discuss quality in healthcare provision - how it is measured, judged and improved – and is key to the delivery of a safe, effective and responsive clinical service which makes a positive difference to your patients. Introducing and drawing on crucial concepts of clinical governance within the Health Service such as clinical audit and service improvement studetns will learn about the power of audit as a tool for driving improvement, the challenges associated with change and the strategies for guiding and assessing change.
The module aims to:
1. illustrate the pillars of clinical governance and its importance in modern healthcare
2. introduce and compare clinical audit, research and service provision
3. provide knowledge of service evaluation from the perspectives of different service users and providers
4. prepare for barriers to change and strategies to mitigate them
5. enable planning and delivery of a service improvement project and clinical audit, including the process of determining the most accepted ‘advanced and sophisticated standard’, data collection, analysis and reporting findings
On successful completion of the module students will have demonstrated the ability to:
1. Evaluate the relevance of the pillars of clinical governance to modern clinical practice
2.Implement the similarities and differences between clinical audit, research and service provision in the development of change management and undertake a clinical audit
3. Evaluate how to mitigate against the competing and complementary expectations of groups of service users, and barriers to service improvement
4. Perform a group service evaluation and improvement project on a topic of clinical relevance including setting the standard, data collection, analysis and evaluation of findings.
Skills Learning Outcomes
On successful completion of the module students will have demonstrated the following skills learning outcomes:
1.Work Ready Skills – Communication, Negotiating and influencing, , Problem solving, Leadership, Working under pressure, Decision making,
2.Sustainability Skills –Critical thinking, Information searching, Relationship development, evidence-based practice
3.Enterprise Skills – Working with others, Planning and mobilising resources, Managing uncertainty and risk, active learning, negotiation and influencing.
4.Academic Skills – Presentation skills, Critical thinking, Academic writing and language, Ethics, Time management, Information searching, Referencing
5.Digital Skills – Information and data literacies, Digital creation, problem solving and innovation, Digital learning and development
6.Technical Skills – Distinguish research, audit and service evaluation and understand the significance in terms of planning and measuring change, Plan, conduct, analyse and report the results of an audit and service delivery project, Identify and manage barriers to change.
The module will present:
• The difference between audit, service evaluation and research.
• Examples of effective audits, techniques for identifying priorities for audit and the conversion of clinical guidelines to standards.
• Development of service improvement methods
• Benchmarks and other approaches to standard setting.
• Measurement, data collection, analysis and interpretation.
• Team roles, stakeholder engagement and the sharing of responsibilities
• Change management and embedding audit and service improvement in the workplace.
• Project planning and execution.
| Delivery type | Number | Length hours | Student hours |
|---|---|---|---|
| Supervision | 5 | 2 | 10 |
| Lecture | 15 | 1 | 15 |
| Practical | 1 | 20 | 20 |
| Seminar | 10 | 3 | 30 |
| Tutorial | 3 | 2 | 6 |
| Private study hours | 69 | ||
| Total Contact hours | 81 | ||
| Total hours (100hr per 10 credits) | 150 | ||
Feedback is a key element of audit and service improvement and will be integral to students’ progress in this module. The principles of feedback and reflection will be instilled in the teaching of the programme and used to develop students skills and knowledge in the following ways:
1. Feedback from tutors will help students focus on an audit topic of their choice. This will be provided continuously in supervisory meetings.
2. Feedback from tutors and peers in the live conversation will help students develop a deeper understanding of their topic, how to focus their project goals and methodology and how to address areas of uncertainty in their coursework.
3. Students presentation skills and communication will be developed by provision of feedback in the live conversation. This feedback will be from peers and tutors.
| Assessment type | Notes | % of formal assessment |
|---|---|---|
| Group Discussion | Live group conversation from all students in their respective group, reporting on the success or failure of an element of service delivery and how the service could be improved (30 min), followed by Q&A from two assessors to all group members (15 mins). | 40 |
| Presentation | Live individual conversation (8 mins) to peers and tutors on audit topic proposal including how the study will be conducted and analysed followed by Q&A and feedback (10mins). | 0 |
| Report | Individual audit report (1000 words) of clinical practice. | 60 |
| Total percentage (Assessment Coursework) | 100 | |
Live conversations are required rather than recorded. The audit will be undertaken individually, and service delivery will be reviewed as a group with allocation and clear assignment of tasks and workload across the group. There is no compensation between summative components of assessment, all components must be passed. In the event of failure of one or more component(s), the module mark will be capped at 50 on successful resit of the failed component(s). If a group member fails the service delivery project, the resit will be a written report (750 words) based on Service Improvement.
Check the module area in Minerva for your reading list
Last updated: 30/04/2026
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