Improving Health Care Quality Case Studies with JMP

Learn how to improve the quality of health care offered by your institution using data you already have

Improving Health Care Quality: Case Studies with JMP teaches readers how to systematically identify problems, collect and interpret data, and solve issues in the real world. Relying on JMP software, the authors walk readers through the process of applying quality improvement techniques to real-life health care problems.

The case studies provided in the book vary significantly and provide a wide-ranging view of the application of quality improvement techniques in the health care field. Studies regarding length of stay of diabetes patients to benchmarking the costs of hip replacement all serve to illuminate and explain the underlying concepts of statistical analysis.

The authors break each case study down into several sections, including:

• Background and Task
• Data and Data Management
• Analysis
• Summary
• Concepts and Tools
• Exercises and Discussion Questions

Each section reinforces the lessons learned in each case study and helps the reader learn to apply statistical data to their own health care quality problems.

Mary Ann Shifflet is an Assistant Professor in the Romain College of Business at the University of Southern Indiana in Evansville, Indiana. Dr. Shifflet received her undergraduate degree in Statistics from Oneonta State in New York and Master's Degree and PhD in Statistics from Virginia Tech in Blacksburg, Virginia. Prior to joining USI she worked in industry as a statistical consultant for General Foods, Merck Pharmaceuticals and for Spencer Research.

Cecilia Martinez is an Associate Professor of Engineering and Management in the Reh School of Business at Clarkson University. She received her Ph.D. in Engineering Management from Texas Tech University and her M.S. in Manufacturing Systems and B.S. in Industrial Engineering from Monterrey Tech. She has taught courses in Quality Management and Lean Enterprise, Operations and Supply Chain Management and Interdisciplinary Engineering Design.

Jane Oppenlander is an Assistant Professor in the Reh School of Business and The Bioethics Program at Clarkson University where she teaches statistics in both classroom and online formats. She received her Ph.D. in Administrative and Engineering Systems from Union College and an M.S. in statistics, a B.A. in mathematics, and a B.S. in education, all from the University of Vermont. Jane is a certified Six Sigma Master Black Belt.

Shirley Shmerling is a full-time faculty of the Isenberg School of Management at the University of Massachusetts. She teaches Operations and Information Management courses, has several publications in journals such as Physician Leadership Journal and is a board member at the American College of Healthcare Trustees. Shirley holds a B.Sc. (Computer Science) and M.Sc. (Operations Research) from the Israel Institute of Technology and a Ph.D. in Management Science from the University of Massachusetts.