Analysing the performance of in vitro fertilization clinics in the United Kingdom

Summary During the past century, the manufacturing industry has achieved major successes in improving the quality of its products. An essential factor in these successes has been the use of Walter A. Shewhart's pioneering work in the economic control of variation, which culminated in the develo...

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Bibliographic Details
Published in:Human fertility (Cambridge, England) England), 2006-09, Vol.9 (3), p.145-151
Main Authors: Mohammed, Mohammed A., Leary, Christine
Format: Article
Language:English
Subjects:
control charts
Female
Fertilization in Vitro - statistics & numerical data
Humans
Infertility - therapy
IVF
Live Birth
Pregnancy
Pregnancy, Multiple - statistics & numerical data
quality
SPC
Treatment Outcome
United Kingdom
variation
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Summary:Summary During the past century, the manufacturing industry has achieved major successes in improving the quality of its products. An essential factor in these successes has been the use of Walter A. Shewhart's pioneering work in the economic control of variation, which culminated in the development of a simple yet powerful theory of variation, which classifies variation as having a common or special cause and thus guides the user to the most appropriate action to effect improvement. Using publicly available performance data, which includes percentage of live births and multiple births, for in vitro fertilization (IVF) clinics in the United Kingdom, we show a central role for Shewhart's approach in moving away from the limitations and controversies associated with performance league tables towards data analyses to support continual improvement. We outline strategies for dealing with common and special causes of variation in IVF clinic performance data.
ISSN:1464-7273
1742-8149
DOI:10.1080/14647270600787385