A Case Study in Monitoring Hospital-Associated Infections with Count Control Charts

Abstract

Hospital-associated infections are a major concern in the medical community due to the potential loss of life and high costs. Monitoring the incidences of infections is an established part of quality maintenance programs in hospitals. However, traditional methods of analysis are often inadequate since the incidences of infections are infrequent. In order to address this issue, techniques such as the cumulative sum (CUSUM) chart for counted data and the g-type control chart have been suggested. This article demonstrates how these charts may be applied to infection control surveillance data from Children's Hospital and makes recommendations for a control chart most suitable for monitoring hospital-associated infections.