Trending Data

Trending Data Over Time: Run Charts

Core measure performance is frequently presented as a run chart.  Run charts have several advantages over before and after summaries:  it’s easier to see the effect of different aspects of your interventions on specific measures as they occur; you get a quicker picture of whether an intervention is working (although you have to be careful not to jump to conclusions too quickly with a single data point); it is easier to separate our the impact of your intervention from secular trends; and intuitively, it is easier to interpret data graphically displayed as a run chart versus a table.

Along the Y axis are the percentages of patients who have had the core measure for discharge instructions met. Along the X axis are individual physician groups. Each group is assigned a number that is known only to members of that specific physician group. The thin “H” bars across each gray bar represent the confidence intervals. The blue line calculates the average performance for the entire group (performance reported externally).

Time is shown on the x axis and performance on the core measure is shown on the Y axis. You can build your run charts using Excel, statistical packages, or even use the IHI’s tool for run charts, the Improvement Tracker.

It is also important to refine the data to give feedback on performance to individual physician groups and units. This more targeted feedback allows individuals to reflect on the care he/she provides rather than view the data as not reflective of their own performance.