The quality and quantity of randomised trials of surgical techniques is acknowledged to be
limited. According to Peter McCulloch and colleagues, however, some aspects of surgery …

This paper reviews the relative strengths and weaknesses of outcome and process
measures as performance indicators in health care. Differences in outcome may be due to …

Current management thinking largely assumes that a well functioning organisation is akin to
a well oiled machine. 1 This leads to the notion that performance is optimised when work is …

Abstract 'Funnel plots' are recommended as a graphical aid for institutional comparisons, in
which an estimate of an underlying quantity is plotted against an interpretable measure of its …

There are many applications of control charts in health-care monitoring and in public-health
surveillance. We introduce these applications to industrial practitioners and discuss some of …

The use of teaching staff as role models for professional behaviour has long been an
informal part of medical training. The authors consider whether role models can still be an …

Objective: To systematically review the literature regarding how statistical process control—
with control charts as a core tool—has been applied to healthcare quality improvement, and …

The history of monitoring the outcomes of health care by external agencies can be traced to
ancient times. However, the danger, now as then, is that in the search for improvement …

Objectives To assess the variation in risk-adjusted 30-day postoperative mortality for
patients with colorectal cancer between hospital trusts within the English NHS. Design …

Using hospital mortality rates to judge hospital performance: a bad idea that just won’t go away |
The BMJ Skip to main content Intended for healthcare professionals Access provided by Google …