By David M. Williams, Ph.D. No one likes to talk about dying. Sudden death due to heart disease occurs 250,000 times a year in the United States. A person is just living their life and unexpectedly their heart stops. Just like that…you’re officially clinically dead. Not so fast. If this happens when you’re not […]
Problem-Solving by Learning From the Process
in Improvement Science, Knowledge, Systems, Tools & Methods, VariationBy David M. Williams, Ph.D. Photo by Bluehouse Skis on Unsplash Let’s face it…patient care documentation is not the most enjoyable aspect of clinical care delivery. It takes time, the electronic medical record isn’t user friendly, and caregivers have a lot going on. It’s no surprise improving clinical documentation is a common improvement opportunity for a […]
Control Charts – What’s in a name?
in Measurement, Tools & Methods, Variationby David M. Williams, Ph.D. Provost & Murray. (2010). Health Care Data Guide. Figure 14.18. P. 127 Have you taken one of those silly quizzes on social media that ask you to answer several questions and then it tells you what political candidate is most like you or what part of the country you’re from? […]
Hand Washing, Standard Work, and PDSA Testing
in Implementation, Improvement Science, PDSA, VariationBy David M Williams, PhD Photo by Curology on Unsplash Many changes we want to implement in daily practice appear obvious and simple. It’s easy to see why leaders want to jump to implementation. Just do it! We don’t need to waste time testing. Let’s just roll it out; people will adopt it. COVID-19 is requiring us to […]
Tracking Project Progress
in Measurement, Tools & MethodsBy David M. Williams, Ph.D. Improvement projects follow a trajectory from forming a team and chartering through achieving sustainable results. Whether leading a single project or monitoring a portfolio, having a strategy for gauging project progress is useful in identifying projects that are stuck and in supporting movement forward. One useful tool the Institute for […]
Is the I Chart the only Shewhart SPC chart I really need?
in Measurementby David M. Williams, Ph.D. This is part of a series of blog posts on measurement for improvement. You can read them all here. Many authors and consultants join me in arguing for collecting data over time and displaying it in a time series chart like a run chart. Some also advocate for the added […]
What about qualitative data?
in Measurementby David M. Williams, Ph.D. This is part of a series of blog posts on measurement for improvement. You can read them all here. A core component of improvement work is understanding and learning from data. This can be new to many, and for some a little intimidating. One common assumption is that all data […]
When can I change my centerline and limits?
in Measurementby David M. Williams, Ph.D. This is part of a series of blog posts on measurement for improvement. You can read them all here. When you create a run chart or a Shewhart chart with baseline data, you can “freeze” the centerline and extend it into the future. Shewhart charts that have equal subgroup size […]
Signals and Special Cause: What are the rules?
in Measurementby David M. Williams, Ph.D. This is part of a series of blog posts on measurement for improvement. You can read them all here. A core pillar of the science of improvement is understanding variation. We use data to learn about a system or process and to know whether our changes are resulting in improvement. […]
How many data points do I need?
in Measurementby David M. Williams, Ph.D. This is part of a series of blog posts on measurement for improvement. You can read them all here. One of the most common questions for a new improver to ask is: How many data points do I need to start a chart? The answer is just 1. Starting with […]