Presentations 2020: OMFS

424 - Audit on preoperative photographs being present before surgical intervention under LA in suspected BCC and SCC lesions

AA Zaki
Presented by: Ammar Zaki
Glan Clwyd Hospital

Introduction In recent years the dermatology department has changed their referral protocol to include photographs. This has made them more efficient at triaging and treating patients in a timely manner. Currently there is no protocol in place for when photographs are required within the OMFS department at Glan Clwyd Hospital. In this audit, I wanted to concentrate on suspected BCC and SCC lesions. According to the Atlas of the Oral and Maxillofacial Surgery Clinics of North America, maxillofacial examination should include preoperative photographs (Leathers and Gowans, 2013). For the purpose of this audit the compliance level has been set to 75% for preoperative photographs being present before any surgical treatment takes place under local anaesthesia. Methods The sample size was set to 50 patients. The data was collected prospectively over a period of one month. Results According to the results, photos were present in 25% of cases. 54% of these were part of the GP referral, 31% were from the dermatology referral and only 15% were taken at the initial consultation appointment within the OMFS department. Conclusion In the first round of the audit we have failed to reach the set standard of 75%. However, on further analysis in cases where photos were not present, the clinician carrying out the procedure would have found it helpful if photos were present in 85% of cases. Changes that are being implemented to improve the compliance are presenting these results and the new protocol in the clinical governance meeting, email sent to all clinical staff with the results and new protocol, photography consent forms made readily available, adding photography to the referral protocol and finally a new system to be able to store photos digitally rather than having to print photos and keeping them in the notes. I will be starting the second round of the audit in the coming weeks, which should be completed by mid-March.
Consent Statement: There are no details on individual patients reported within the abstract.

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