quality control and audit visit: process & actions

Quality control and audit visit:

process & actions

Why quality control?

• To ensure• the correctness, and• completeness

• of the collected information• To detect problems in measurements

and data management soon after they occur• Ideally so that they can be remedied• Anyway before erroneous results

reported

What is quality control?

• In case of HES includes• Training of the field work personnel• Setting up the examination site• Data collection process

• Questionnaires• Self-administered• Interviews

• Physical measurements• Biological samples

• Transfer of materials

Training

• Lectures and practical training• What are

standardized procedures

• How they work• What to do in

unexpected situations

Monitoring of work• Both field work and

laboratory procedures required monitoring – audit visits

• Person(s) doing the audit visits should• Outsider, not part of

team doing the work

• Well aware of agreed protocols

• Sometimes internal auditor (trainers during the pilot) may be useful

Audit visit to the field

• How examination room(s) is/are set up

• How equipment are set up

• Tidiness of the examination site

• How daily checking and calibration of the equipment is done• Are equipment

calibrated correctly

• Communication• Within team• With participants

• How informed consent is obtained

• How interviews are conducted

• How measurements are conducted

• Data security• Transfer of materials

• From each audit visit, a report needs to be prepared• Things requiring

changes/correcting• Positive observations

• Communicated with the field work team

Audit results

From collected data

• In regular bases, the coordinating office should check• Frequencies of the variables• Means and standard deviation• Outliers• Possible technical notes, other

comments attached to data• Jump rules• Consistency

Quality control is a learning process