Uses of Statistical Information Paper

Uses of Statistical Information Paper

Erica Ellul

HCS 438

June 23, 2010

Dr. Donna M. Williams, PhD, MSN, M.Ed., RN

Uses of Statistical Information Paper

The following paper will describe the use of statistics in my place of work with which I am familiar with. I will discuss one example of descriptive statistics and one example of inferential statistics and how it is used in my workplace. I will then describe how data at each four levels of measurement is used and if my workplace does not use all four levels I will describe how such data could be used. Finally, I will talk about the advantages of accurate interpretation of information to improve decision making in my organization. The main topic of this paper will be based around the Press Ganey Survey.

Statistics and Importance in Healthcare

Statistics is used in two senses. First being the collections of quantitative information and methods of handling this particular data. This is also known as descriptive statistics. Second, statistics also refers to the drawing of inferences about large groups on the basis of observations made on smaller ones, also known as inferential statistics. Statistics looks at ways of organizing, summarizing, and describing quantifiable data, and methods of drawing inferences and generalizing upon them. Understanding statistics is important in healthcare because it is necessary to read and evaluate reports and other reading materials critically and intelligently, and enables the reader to decide the justification of the claims made by the particular writer or analyst.

Statistics in My Workplace

One way statistics is used in my workplace involves the Press Ganey Survey. This survey acts upon the needs of patients to help improve the delivery of care and achieve organizational results (Press Ganey, 2010). Press Ganey allows clients to compare his or her satisfaction scores to peer groups such as hospitals with the same bed volume. This tool assesses many different areas in the hospital, but the main area I will concentrate on and apply statistics to is the field of nursing. The Press Ganey Survey uses patient discharge information concentrating on specific topics important to various aspects of health care. The hospital I work for takes the surveys received and tallies it up on a weekly basis. Each unit has a tallied score for the week, month, quarter, and year. Then the hospital takes all scores from each unit and adds them up to get an overall average for the whole hospital. The data gathered is an example of descriptive statistics.

Example of Descriptive Statistics in My Workplace

The hospital I work for has a target goal of reaching the 90th percentile. This is the target goal set for each unit. The unit I work for is called 7 South. The below chart is 7 South's Press Ganey Percentile Rank Weekly scores. The scores have varied tremendously. This is an example of descriptive statistics because my organization is studying two populations, nurses and patients, and analyzing specifics. This population is small enough that my organization can include the whole population in the studies. The patients are being surveyed about specific issues and are being coded by content analysis. Example, one question on the survey is, "How well your pain was controlled?" For 7 South from April 25, 2010 to May 22, 2010 our mean score was 84.9 and from May 23, 2010 to June 19, 2010 our mean score was 88.0 in regards to this question. The change was 3.1. This is done for my unit as well as other units in the hospital. By gathering this data we are able to see how certain issues affect members of the population being studied.

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(Oakwood Hospital,2010)

Inferential Statistics

Inferential statistics uses data gathered from a sample to make inferences about the larger population which the sample was drawn. For example, my organization takes the information gained from our Press Ganey satisfaction study to make inferences to all hospital nurses in how to improve care. My organization takes specific questions asked on the survey then compares the greatest increases and decreases pertaining to these questions and compares the mean on each unit week to week. After taking all this data from specific units my organization then applies it to the larger population and as a result a 90 day action plan takes effect. The 90 day action plan that took effect on my unit has to do with the areas of 1) increase response concerns/complaints to an upward trend, 2) promptness to response call light to an upward trend, 3) staff worked together to care for you, 4) and attention to special needs.