Best versus the rest : Comparing hospitals graphically.

Abstract

AIMS: In assessing and improving quality in Healthcare , we often compare numbers of events, e.g., falls or deaths, across hospitals and/ or wards, using a variety of statistical methods, including graphical ones. To apply two statistical methods to compare mortality data between hospitals. CONCLUSIONS: Both methods reach the same conclusions regarding mortality. While chi square is a widely used method for overall comparisons, funnel plots allow visual comparison of individual hospitals with the overall mean. The latter technique takes hospital size into account and can readily be applied to risk adjusted data. Therefore, funnel plots should be used more often in comparative studies in healthcare.