title: Understanding and controlling variation in public health.
abstract: Variation in work processes is a critically important concept and method for creating true and sustainable improvement in public health services and activities. This article describes the concept of variation based on W. Edwards Deming's profound knowledge and defines basic terms such as common cause and special cause variation. Control charts are explained as the primary tool for calculating variation within work processes. The article also provides an example of how variation theory can be applied to create sustainable improvement in public health.
authors.affiliation: MarMason Consulting LLC, Kirkland, Washington, USA. marni@marmason.com
authors.forename: Marlene J
authors.initials: MJ
authors.lastname: Mason
authors.forename: John W
authors.initials: JW
authors.lastname: Moran
mesh_terms: D015980:Public Health Practice / Q000592:standards*; D011786:Quality Control; D014481:United States