Share with care!
Although the clinical audit community section of this website is all about encouraging clinical audit professionals to network with their peers more effectively and to work together and share ideas, it is worth pointing out that recent times have seen an increase in audit materials being plagiarised and intellectual property stolen.
Both Tracy and I encountered this problem on a number of occasions during the ten years that we spent at Leicestershire Primary Care Audit Group. On one notable occasion we found that an audit project which had been commended by the NHSLA had originally been developed in Leicester but was then simply re-branded by a third party who we had shared this work with.
When discussing this matter with clinical audit and governance professionals we sadly often hear of cases where originators of work have not been acknowledged by those they have subsequently shared resources with. From CASC’s perspective this is not acceptable and our policy is to always acknowledge the work of those that pioneered work at every opportunity.
With this in mind, we would recommend that those of you who intend to share your materials and resources with others, first copyright your work. Copyright is an automatic right and arises whenever an individual creates a piece of work. In general, you can copyright your work simply by adding copyright information to a document stating the name of author/department and the date. However, CASC are not experts in this complex field and would advise that for more comprehensive information you visit a website such as www.copyrightservice.co.uk where you can access a range of free fact sheets. Meanwhile, it is also in your interest when sharing materials with others to inform them that your work is copyrighted and must be acknowledged when if and when used.
For those of you borrowing materials, we suggest that it is best practice to acknowledge those who have shared their resources with you. As a good example, Tracy and I have always used the audit scoring grid in training sessions since 1997. Although this work was developed by our former PCAG colleagues, Rosalind Sorrie and Louise Hazelwood, we always acknowledge them as the authors of this work. Not to do so would give the false impression to those being trained that this resource was developed by ourselves!
On a final note, we would encourage clinical audit and governance staff to look out for fellow professionals and report cases where original materials are being passed off. Audit and governance professionals should be able to share materials and operate in a trusting environment. “Steal with pride” is a term that I hear frequently at conferences and we have never liked the concept, so our motto is “Share with care”!