Professional Practice Gap

PeerPoint Accreditation Manual

Professional Practice Gaps are the description of a problem in practice, the difference between ACTUAL (what is happening) and IDEAL (what should be happening) concerning physician knowledge, competence, performance and/or patient outcomes.

Professional Practice Gaps exist when:

  • Physicians don’t know something (Knowledge).
  • Physicians don’t know how to do something (Competence).
  • Physicians don’t do something in their practice (Performance).
  • Physicians’ patients don’t do as well as they could (Patient outcomes).