PoEM_Article

Title
Volume
Numero
Year
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Corr. Author	First LastName
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Date of Submission (10 Feb. 2026)
Date of Revision (10 March., 10 Apr. 2026)
Date of Acceptation (10 Aug. 2026)
DOI (10.26738/poem.v3i1.58
Complete citation

Vol. 4 No. 1 2026

CONTEXT

Audit and feedback (A&F) is a commonly used method in healthcare. Previous studies, particularly in the field of behavioural theories, suggest that this method encourages healthcare professionals to modify their practice. However, current evidence in healthcare does not clearly establish whether this method is associated with improvements in practice or which types of A&F are the most effective.

CLINICAL QUESTION

What are the effects of A&F on healthcare professional practice, and which factors may explain variations in the effectiveness of A&F ?

BOTTOM LINE

A&F probably improves the quality of practice, prescribing, and the ordering of additional tests (moderate-certainty evidence). Evidence suggests that A&F is more effective when the audit focuses on an individual professional’s practice or on a single behaviour rather than on the whole team or a series of actions. Feedback has greater impact when delivered by a respected peer with an existing relationship with the professional and when there is substantial room for improvement. Comparing a professional’s performance with that of higher-performing peers and focusing on issues recognised as priorities by professionals may improve the effectiveness of A&F.

Several factors appear to increase the effectiveness of A&F: feedback delivered both verbally and in writing, the addition of an action plan alongside defined objectives, and feedback combined with other strategies such as training sessions, seminars, discussion groups, or regular reminders. In contrast, combining A&F with financial incentives or using it for punitive tone appears to be less effective or even counter-productive.

CAVEATS

The authors reported substantial heterogeneity in the effects observed. In some studies, A&F was associated with a decline in performance and difficulties in maintaining improvements over time. This highlights that A&F is not a trivial managerial intervention. Future studies are needed to better understand when and how this intervention should be used.

Authors' Details

1. Centre hospitalier de Selestat, Sélestat, France

2. Urgences CHU Tours, Tours, France

3. Samu de Paris, AP-HP, Necker-Enfants Malades Hospital, Paris, France

Author contributions

All authors contributed equally and validated the final version of record.

Declarations

Conflicts Of Interests

The Authors declare that there is no conflict of interest.

Funding

This research received no specific grant from any funding agency in the public, commercial, or not-for-profit sectors.

Registration

No registration applicable.

Data availability statement

The data that support the findings of this study are available from the corresponding author upon reasonable request.

Ethical approval

Ethical approval for this study was not required.

Source: Ivers N, Yogasingam S, Lacroix M, Brown KA, Antony J, Soobiah C, Simeoni M, Willis TA, Crawshaw J, Antonopoulou V, Meyer C, Solbak NM, Murray BJ, Butler E-A, Lepage S, Giltenane M, Carter MD, Fontaine G, Sykes M, Halasy M, Bazazo A, Seaton S, Canavan T, Alderson S, Reis C, Linklater S, Lalor A, Fletcher A, Gearon E, Jenkins H, Wallis JA, Grobler L, Beccaria L, Cyril S, Rozbroj T, Han JX, Xu AXT, Wu K, Rouleau G, Shah M, Konnyu K, Colquhoun H, Presseau J, O'Connor D, Lorencatto F, Grimshaw JM.
Audit and feedback: effects on professional practice.
Cochrane Database Syst Rev 2025; 3: CD000259. https://pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/40130784/

Copyright: This is an Open Access article, distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 International license (https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0, which permits unrestricted re-use, distribution, and reproduction in any medium, provided the original work is properly cited.

How to cite this paper? Oberlin M, Dumouchel J, Jabre P. Rigourous audit and feedback : positive effect on healthcare professionnal practice. Panorama of Emergency Medicine. 2026,4(1) https://doi.org/10.26738/poem.v4i1.21

Panorama of Emergency Medicine

Corresponding Author

Patricia Jabre

(Samu de Paris, AP-HP, Necker-Enfants Malades Hospital, Paris, France)

patricia.jabre@aphp.fr

A complete list of the Authors'Affiliations
is available at the end of the article.

Submitted: 26 June 2026

Accepted: 13 July 2026

Published by New Health Concept

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