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Data collection needs to bring about change

Quality Improvement Monitor, February 22, 2008

Editor's note: This is the first article in a regular series about how to collect and analyze data.

Don't waste your time collecting data unless it's part of a closed control loop that leads to changes in your hospital.

"The reason we measure data is because data is part of a closed loop, and the reason we have a closed loop is that we want to change something," says Ken Rohde, author of the new book Making Your Data Work: Tools and Templates for Effective Analysis, published by HCPro, Inc., and a senior consultant for The Greeley Company, a division of HCPro in Marblehead, MA. "We either want to change behaviors, or we want to say, 'It's exactly at the right point; let's keep it here,' " he says.

A thermostat that is working properly, he says, is an example of a closed control loop. If the temperature falls below a set point, say the 70oF mark, the thermostat initiates an action, which is to turn on the heaters. The air then warms up and touches the thermostat, which samples the temperature to determine whether the room has reached that set point, or 70oF mark, and turns off the heater if it has.

"That's a closed control loop, and it's got some key parts-it's got the data; it's got the set point, or the expectation; it's got the action; and it's got the closed feedback loop," says Rohde.

In this example, a data loop breakdown may mean that either the thermostat or heater is broken, so even if you keep raising the temperature, the room stays cold. A broken data loop might also result if someone has changed the expectation, set point, or temperature, to, for example, 90oF. The heater then works to reach an expectation that might not be the right one.

Similarly, the board of directors and senior leadership might have different expectations, or set points for medication error rates. Senior leaders need to determine what the expectation is and clearly define it to quality directors, so if the data show performance falling below that set point, the quality department can take action to correct the problem.

Access the full story in the February issue of the Quality Improvement Report; access is free for subscribers, nonsubscribers can purchase a copy of the story for $10./p>

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