Measuring Patient Outcomes

Using the statistical analysis program SPSS, this book shows how to analyze patient outcomes data and create graphs summarizing this data. The first part of this book serves as a primer for nurses and other health professionals who are learning how to measure outcomes. The second part includes a series of case studies describing successful patient outcomes projects. The examples selected range from the straightforward assessment of length of stay and readmission rate before and after the introduction of a care pathway, to the more complicated efforts to assess the impact of swimming on central venous catheter infection in children with cancer. Some chapters represent the starting point for outcomes measurement, while other chapters are built upon previous work.