Outcome clinical audit: analyses of interventional closure of patent ductus arteriosus in dogs

A total of 339 cases were included from five participating centres. The process of performing clinical audit was achieved in all centres. The successful discharge outcome was 95.9% with a complication rate of 4.1%. The procedure-related mortality was 0.6%. A total of 149 cases (43.9%) were either lost to follow-up or had not yet had a follow-up within the time period. Of the remaining 169 cases in which follow-up was available, 157 (92.9%) had a successful medium-term outcome CONCLUSIONS: This study demonstrates that the process of performing a clinical audit is achievable in veterinary clinical interventions across different centres. These results provide a benchmark for future comparison in our ongoing clinical audit and validate the process of clinical audit for other centres performing cardiac interventions. The use of clinical audit should be considered in other aspects of veterinary medicine.