Summary of Data from Subsequent Re-Audit
Following the initial audit cycle, it was found that more than half of
the patients (52.5%) with an ear problem were requiring suctioning for
which they had to be referred to the ENT MOT.
Therefore, the suctioning machine was made available in the ENT OPD, and
suction was started for the patients presenting to the ENT OPD. A
subsequent reaudit was carried out in January 2022 to see the effects of
the change that had been implemented.
During January, data was collected from 338 patients (58.9% males and
41.1% females).
The most common problems for which suctioning was done were ear wax, ear
discharge, and otomycosis. The details of Presenting complaint are in
Table 2. The data showed that the suctioning was done for 54.4% (184
out of 338) of the patients that came to the ENT OPD. The established
diagnosis based on suctioning in OPD is mentioned in Table 3.
As most of the patients that were previously referred from the ENT OPD
to the ENT MOT were those that required suctioning of the ear, the
percentage of patients that had to be referred to ENT OT decreased from
54.5% in the previous audit to a significantly low value of 9.5% in
this audit. The percentage of patients who still require referral to the
OT is 9.5% as seen in Figure 2. The diagnosis requiring suctioning in
OT is mentioned in Table 4.
The 9.5% of patients (32 out of 338) that had to be referred to the ENT
MOT included patients that required Examination of the ear under the
microscope for CSOM, required the removal of foreign body, and needed
steroid injections in the keloid of ear lobule. Removal of the foreign
body has been a major cause of referral in a Saudi Arabian study too
along with the lack of specialty in the clinic [12].