title: Statistical tools for understanding variation: the allocation of operating suite time.
abstract: Australian hospitals are becoming increasingly familiar with the 'new' tools for continuous quality improvement. In particular, many are becoming increasingly competent in establishing and supporting quality improvement teams for process evaluation and improvement. The main problems with such teams now seems to arise in relation to the analysis and interpretation of data on the process. This paper provides an example of the types of analyses and interpretations required of today's quality improvement practitioner in health care.
authors.affiliation: Department of Statistics, University of Newcastle, Callaghan, NSW, Australia.
authors.forename: P
authors.initials: P
authors.lastname: Fahey
authors.forename: D
authors.initials: D
authors.lastname: Sibbritt
mesh_terms: D001315:Australia; D001509:Bed Occupancy; D013502:General Surgery; D006296:Health Services / Q000592:standards*; D006761:Hospitals / Q000592:standards*; D006801:Humans; D010348:Patient Care Team; D013223:Statistics as Topic; D013997:Time Factors