Mortality control charts improve monitoring of surgical performance

Mortality control charts are an accurate statistical method for evaluating the performance of surgical units. The validation study of Tekkis and colleagues (p 786) used mortality data from two UK gastro-oesophageal cancer databases covering 1042 patients referred for surgery in 29 hospitals. After adjusting mortality for case volume and case mix, they found that the model fitted the data well and had adequate discrimination. Mortality control charts can be adapted to various specialties and are especially useful for monitoring performance in units with a low volume of high risk procedures. They are better than the conventional technique of league tables because they can adjust to case volume and mix.

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Relevant Article

Mortality control charts for comparing performance of surgical units: validation study using hospital mortality data

Paris P Tekkis, Peter McCulloch, Adrian C Steger, Irving S Benjamin, and Jan D Poloniecki
BMJ 2003 326: 786-788. [Abstract] [Full Text] [PDF]