One of my favorite bloggers about the application of statistics in healthcare is David Kashmer, an M.D. and MBA who runs and writes for the Business Model Innovation in Surgery blog. If you’re interested in how quality improvement methods like lean and Six Sigma can be applied to healthcare, check it out.

A while back, Dr. Kashmer penned a column titled “How to Measure a Process When There's No Metric” in which he discusses how you can use the measurement systems analysis method called gauge R&R to create your own measurement tools and validate them as useful metrics. I selected the term “useful” here deliberately. A metric you’ve devised might be very useful in helping you assess your own situation, though it might not meet requirements set by agencies, auditors, or other concerned parties.

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