QuEST Mental Health Data for Improvement Network Run Charts Alison Pickering Senior Information Analyst
By the end of this session you will… know why we use run charts in improvement work be able to construct a run chart understand how to read the run chart know when to change the median know how to find further support
Why Run Charts? “Data have no meaning apart from their context” W. Shewhart
Worked example NHS Somewhere was having trouble with their DNA rate, so they implemented a text reminder system in July Did it work? Month Number of DNAs Jan-119 Jan-126 Jan-134
Monthly data MonthNumber of DNAs Jan-119 Feb-118 Mar-119 Apr-116 May-117 Jun-115 Jul-116 Aug-118 Sep-119 Oct-116 Nov-117 Dec-116 Jan-126 Feb-127 Mar-129 Apr-129 May-128 Jun-126 Jul-127 Aug-128 Sep-126 Oct-128 Nov-127 Dec-125 Jan-134
Create a line chart
Find your median MonthNumber of DNAs Jan-134 Jun-115 Dec-125 Apr-116 Jul-116 Oct-116 Dec-116 Jan-126 Jun-126 Sep-126 May-117 Nov-117 Feb-127 Jul-127 Nov-127 Feb-118 Aug-118 May-128 Aug-128 Oct-128 Jan-119 Mar-119 Sep-119 Mar-129 Apr-129
Add the median to your chart
Add titles and labels
Annotate chart with process changes
Run Chart Rules There are four simple things to look for on a run chart to highlight whether there are significant changes happening: 1.A shift 2.A trend 3.The number of runs 4.An astronomical data point
A shift
A trend Total number of data pointsNumber up or down in a row to indicate special cause 5 to 85 or more 9 to 206 or more 21 to 1007 or more
The number of runs
Data points Lower limit Upper limit Data points Lower limit Upper limit Data points Lower limit Upper limit
The number of runs
Astronomical point
Our example
Another example Median = 3.9
Changing the median
Changing the median example
Conclusion Source: xkcd.com
Further learning Reading: – QI Hub - centre/quality-improvement-tools/run-chart.aspxwww.qihub.scot.nhs.uk/knowledge- centre/quality-improvement-tools/run-chart.aspx – IHI – Paper
Further support Alison Pickering Senior Information Analyst QuEST Mental Health