Foundation Year Pharmacy – Clinical Practice Test

In an audit cycle, you first need a concrete measure of current practice so you can see how it stacks up against the established standard. Collecting data on antibiotic prescribing gives objective, actionable information about what is actually happening on the ward—the indications, drugs, doses, duration, and whether they align with local protocols. This baseline enables you to quantify compliance, identify where gaps exist, and target improvements, which is the whole point of an audit.

Writing new guidelines would come after you’ve identified gaps and need to implement changes. Conducting patient interviews can add context, but it doesn’t reliably quantify whether prescribing practices meet protocols across the ward. Implementing rapid antimicrobial resistance testing is a diagnostic intervention, not a method for auditing prescribing adherence.