Special Care, Inc. is a large, long term care facility whose new management has hired you as the quality management/risk management coordinator. There are many problems that they would like you to tackle, including staffing issues, an increase in patient falls, and an upcoming state survey.
1) Run Charts: You are going to tackle the staffing problem and have decided to review the call in data for the last year. You have been given the following data:
| Month |
Hours Lost |
Month |
Hours Lost |
| Jan |
375 |
July |
495 |
| Feb |
300 |
Aug |
550 |
| Mar |
275 |
Sept |
425 |
| Apr |
500 |
Oct |
450 |
| May |
525 |
Nov |
460 |
| June |
490 |
Dec |
350 |
a. Use excel or another database to chart the information.
b. On the chart, plot (draw a line) the median number of call-ins.
c. Describe what the pattern looks like and what conclusions you might draw from it. (1 paragraph) As a manager what would be your process for PDSA?
CONTROL CHART
2. You have calculated the upper and lower control limits on the run chart example. The upper limit is calculated at 575 and the lower at 250.
a. Draw the upper and lower control limits on the chart.
b. Compare the plotted points and the lines drawn for the upper and lower control limits. Determine if all the plotted points fall within the upper and lower control limits.
c. Determine if the variation results from common causes or special causes.
THESE ARE THE REMINDERS FOR HOW TO CONSTRUCT CHARTS
RUN/TREND CHART:
A run/trend chart is a picture of data over a period of time.
How to construct a run chart:
1) Draw a chart with an X axis and a Y axis. The X axis is a horizontal line that represents the time interval and the Y axis is a vertical line that represents the data collected.
2) Plot the data - each number - for each time interval.
3) Determine the mean by adding the data together and dividing by the number of data points. Plot the mean as a line on the chart.
4) Connect the points to visualize the pattern.
How to construct a control chart:
1) Calculate the upper (UCL) and lower (LCL) control limits using the formula calculation (not included in this exercise).
2) Draw a straight line at the level of the numbers derived from the UCL and LCL calculations.
3) Compare UCL and LCL against the points plotted.