What Are the Seven Pillars of Clinical Governance?
The seven pillars of clinical governance are clinical effectiveness, audit, risk management, education and training, information management, openness and clinical research. Clinical governance was created with the focus of both maintaining and improving patient care in the National Health Service in the U.K.
Clinical effectiveness means that everything done for a patient is in their best interest. Audit refers to the monitoring of clinics. Risk management means policies that minimize risk and allow staff to understand problems when they do occur. Education and training ensure doctors and staff are continually learning. Information management refers to keeping patient information secure and updated. Openness means clinics are open to public scrutiny. Clinical research refers to both researching and using the results of research to improve clinical practices.
