6.30 Whichhospital is safer? To help consumers makeinformed decisions about heal

Question

6.30 Whichhospital is safer? To help consumers makeinformed decisions about health care, the government releases dataabout patient outcomes in hospitals. You want to compare Hospital Aand Hospital B, which serve your community. Here are data on allpatients undergoing surgery in a recent time period. The datainclude the condition of the patient (“good” or“poor”) before the surgery. “Survived”means that thepatient lived at least 6 weeks following surgery.

(a) Compare percents to show that HospitalA has a higher survival rate for both groups of patients.

(b) Combine the data into a singletwo-waytable of outcome (“survived” or “died”)by hospital (A or B). The local paper reports just these overallsurvival rates. Which hospital has the higher rate?

(c) Explain from the data, in language thata reporter can understand, how Hospital B can do better overalleven though Hospital A does better for both groups of patients.

Explanation / Answer

A. Survival rate = number of patients who survive / total patients Survival rate A Good = 594 / 600 Survival rate A Poor = 1443 / 1500 Survival rate B Good = 592 / 600 Survival rate B Poor = 192 / 200 B. Survival rate A = (594 + 1443) / (600 + 1500) Survival rate B = (592 + 192) / (600 + 200) C. The numbers that they use to calculate the survival rates weretaken 6 weeks after surgery. Perhaps the numbers change as thisperiod changes? Also, the ratio of patients in good health topatients in poor health is a lot higher at hospital B.

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