Table of Contents
List of Figures
List of Tables
Foreword
Preface
Acknowledgements
Chapter 1 - Planning Your Continuous Quality Improvement (CQI) Journey
What is Quality?
Who Is Interested in Quality?
A Quality Improvement Road Map
Chapter 2 - Preparing to Collect Data
Identifying an Opportunity for Improvement
Prioritizing Opportunities
Organizing a Team
Clarifying the Process with Flowcharts
Standardizing the Process
Identifying Key Quality Characteristics (KQC)
Developing Operational Definitions
Chapter 3 - Data Collection
Data versus Information
Components of a Data Collection Plan
A Template for Data Collection
Chapter 4 - Understanding Variation
Depicting Variation
Common versus Special Causes of Variation
Consequences of Not Understanding Variation
Chapter 5 - Using Run and Control Charts to Analyze Process Variation
Constructing Run Charts
Using Run Charts
Using a Run Chart to Help Improve the Preadmission Testing Process
Why Use Control Charts?
The Elements of a Control Chart
Basic Control Chart Theory
Type I and Type II Errors
Dividing a Control Chart into Zones
Deciding Which Control Chart to Use
Chapter 6 - Control Chart Case Studies
Applying Statistical Thinking to Healthcare Processes
Case Studies
Analyzing the Net Operating Margin
CBC Laboratory Turnaround Time
Tracking the Success of Physical Therapy
Days to Mail a Patient Invoice
Admission Time into an Intensive Care Unit
Emergency Room Bed Transfer Time
Platelet Counts
Primary Caesarian Sections
Ranking Hospitals on Patient Satisfaction
Patient Falls
Use of Restraints with Psychiatric Patients
Medication Errors
Chapter 7 - Developing Improvement Strategies
The Type of Variation Determines Your Strategy
Right and Wrong Strategies
Changing a Common-Cause System
Tools to Identify KPVs
Continued Monitoring
How Much Improvement is Enough?
Chapter 8 - Using Patient Surveys for CQI
A Self-Test on Survey Research
Function of Patient Surveys in CQI
Reliability and Validity
Why is Reliability Important?
How Much Reliability is Enough?
Sampling
Interviewer and Nonresponse Bias
Report Format
Benchmark Data
Evaluating the Effectiveness of Interventions
Summary
Appendix - Formulas for Calculating Control Limits
The X-bar - R Chart
The XmR Chart
The p-Chart
The c-Chart
The u-Chart
References
Index