Case Study 1: Statistical Thinking in Health Care
Due Week 4 and worth 150 points
Read the following case study.
Ben
Davis had just completed an intensive course in Statistical Thinking
for Business Improvement, which was offered to all employees of a large
health maintenance organization. There was no time to celebrate,
however, because he was already under a lot of pressure. Ben works as a
pharmacist’s assistant in the HMO’s pharmacy, and his manager, Juan de
Pacotilla, was about to be fired. Juan’s dismissal appeared to be
imminent due to numerous complaints, and even a few lawsuits over
inaccurate prescriptions. Juan now was asking Ben for his assistance in
trying to resolve the problem, preferably yesterday!
“Ben, I really need your help! If I can’t show some major improvement or at least a solid plan by next month, I’m history.”
“I’ll be glad to help, Juan, but what can I do? I’m just a pharmacist’s assistant.”
“I
don’t care what your job title is; I think you’re just the person who
can get this done. I realize I’ve been too far removed from day-to-day
operations in the pharmacy, but you work there every day. You’re in a
much better position to find out how to fix the problem. Just tell me
what to do, and I’ll do it.”
“But what about the statistical consultant you hired to analyze the data on inaccurate prescriptions?”
“Ben,
to be honest, I’m really disappointed with that guy. He has spent two
weeks trying to come up with a new modeling approach to predict weekly
inaccurate prescriptions. I tried to explain to him that I don’t want to
predict the mistakes, I want to eliminate them! I don’t think I got
through, however, because he said we need a month of additional data to
verify the model, and then he can apply a new method he just read about
in a journal to identify ‘change points in the time series,’ whatever
that means. But get this, he will only identify the change points and
send me a list; he says it’s my job to figure out what they mean and how
to respond. I don’t know much about statistics — the only thing I
remember from my course in college is that it was the worst course I
ever took– but I’m becoming convinced that it actually doesn’t have
much to offer in solving real problems. You’ve just gone through this
statistical thinking course, though, so maybe you can see something I
can’t. To me, statistical thinking sounds like an oxymoron. I realize
it’s a long shot, but I was hoping you could use this as the project you
need to officially complete the course.”
“I see your point,
Juan. I felt the same way, too. This course was interesting, though,
because it didn’t focus on crunching numbers. I have some ideas about
how we can approach making improvements in prescription accuracy, and I
think this would be a great project. We may not be able to solve it
ourselves, however. As you know, there is a lot of finger-pointing going
on; the pharmacists blame sloppy handwriting and incomplete
instructions from doctors for the problem; doctors blame pharmacy
assistants like me who actually do most of the computer entry of the
prescriptions, claiming that we are incompetent; and the assistants tend
to blame the pharmacists for assuming too much about our knowledge of
medical terminology, brand names, known drug interactions, and so on.”
“It sounds like there’s no hope, Ben!”
“I
wouldn’t say that at all, Juan. It’s just that there may be no quick
fix we can do by ourselves in the pharmacy. Let me explain how I’m
thinking about this and how I would propose attacking the problem using
what I just learned in the statistical thinking course.”
Source:
G. C. Britz, D. W. Emerling, L. B. Hare, R. W. Hoerl, & J. E. Shade.
“How to Teach Others to Apply Statistical Thinking.” Quality Progress
(June 1997): 67–80.
Assuming the role of Ben Davis, write a three to four (3-4) page
paper in which you apply the approach discussed in the textbook to this
problem. You’ll have to make some assumptions about the processes used
by the HMO pharmacy. Also, please use the Internet and / or Strayer LRC
to research articles on common problems or errors that pharmacies face.
Your paper should address the following points:
- Develop a process map about the prescription filling process for
HMO’s pharmacy, in which you specify the key problems that the HMO’s
pharmacy might be experiencing. Next, use the supplier, input, process
steps, output, and customer (SIPOC) model to analyze the HMO pharmacy’s
business process. - Analyze the process map and SIPOC model to identify possible main
root causes of the problems. Next, categorize whether the main root
causes of the problem are special causes or common causes. Provide a
rationale for your response. - Suggest the main tools that you would use and the data that you
would collect in order to analyze the business process and correct the
problem. Justify your response. - Propose one (1) solution to the HMO pharmacy’s on-going problem(s)
and propose one (1) strategy to measure the aforementioned solution.
Provide a rationale for your response. - Use at least two (2) quality references. Note: Wikipedia and other Websites do not qualify as academic resources.
Your assignment must follow these formatting requirements:
- Be typed, double spaced, using Times New Roman font (size 12), with
one-inch margins on all sides; citations and references must follow APA
format. Check with your professor for any additional instructions. - Include a cover page containing the title of the assignment, the
student’s name, the professor’s name, the course title, and the date.
The cover page and the reference page are not included in the required
assignment page length.
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