Report
of the standards working group,
March 2005
An update on the status
of the working group for standards was presented by Linda Eve at the AGM
in Oxford, March 2005.
It was agreed that
standards are needed to develop and ensure “common language”
and to break down any technical barriers to communication between the
specialties represented within gait analysis.
The standards have
been developed during 2003/4 to the stage that they could be piloted in
labs. The pilot was to test the clarity of the standards, identify any
weak points and assess the level of documentation currently in use in
labs. Feedback from this process will be used to review and develop the
standards and use them for auditing and accreditation of the gait labs.
Thirteen labs took
part in the pilot study submitting 33 protocols with 8 labs completing
questionnaires. Most labs felt that producing the documentation had not
greatly increased their workload and that, on the whole, complied well
with the standards. No lab reported that the standards were irrelevant
to their practice, although some felt some standards were difficult to
interpret and more information would help production of the protocols.
These comments have been used in the revision of
the standards. All labs thought this was a worthwhile exercise.
When questioned about
future activity, labs were in favour of continuing the process with work
towards formal auditing and accreditation. Although there were queries
about the cost of this.
The standards working
group will now move towards looking at audit and accreditation. To help
this workshops are to be planned through the year - more information can
be found here.
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