DID WE IMPROVE THE QUALITY OF SURGICAL RECORD KEEPING ACCORDING TO MODIFIED ANKLe STANDARD?

OBJECTIVE: To evaluate the current status and improvement in quality of surgical records in 2014 as compared to previous audit of 2012 at Dow University Hospital (DUH), Karachi, Pakistan. METHODS: A review of records of all the patients in surgery department of DUH were done according to Modified Adjusted Note Keeping and Legibility (ANKLe) score in first audit. After sharing the results of the first audit and education of the junior doctors, re-audit was done and completed from June 2014 to August 2014. The modified ANKLe score with an overall total-score of 24 consists of the combination of the content (out of 20) and legibility (out of 4). An acceptable score is at least 20 (content score 17/20; legibility score 3/4). Scores were compared to a study conducted previously in 2012. RESULTS: Records of 290 patients were assessed. Mean scores for total ANKLe score, content and legibility for current study were 19.94±3.36, 16.48±3.12 3.56±0.581 respectively whereas 18.4±2.1, 14.4±2.1 3.9±0.2 respectively in study conducted in 2012 . The benchmark of 80% (20/24 score) for total ANKLe score was achieved in 63.7% compared to 26.1% in 2012. Similarly, standard of 17/20 for contents and 3/4 for legibility was achieved in 60.34% and 95.5% respectively as compared to 6.8% 99.1% respectively in 2012. CONCLUSION: Overall, quality of surgical record keeping in DUH has been improved but still not at ideal status. The ANKLe score can be used in hospitals. By giving education and guidance to junior doctors the quality of medical records can be improved.