WGU D514 FINAL EXAM 2025

The quality improvement team is reviewing quarterly incident reports and evaluating the effect of Six Sigma strategies on the quantity of medication errors over the past two years. The team hypothesizes a continuous reduction in medical errors for each quarter.The sample consists of patient clinical and demographic characteristics. Unfortunately, causation cannot be determined from the data available.Which research method should be used to test the team's hypothesis? Time-Series Cross-Sectional Pretest-posttest Randomized Control Trial - Correct Ans-Time-series A hospital researcher has access to one year of hospital emergency department claims data. The researcher is investigating the association of race on the timeliness of delivery of care. The sample includes information on patient demographics, insurance information, and emergency department factors. Due to patient confidentiality, the sample does not include patient clinical information and outcomes.Which research method should be used? Time-Series Cross-Sectional Pretest-posttest Randomized Control Trial - Correct Ans-Cross Sectional A policy analyst is interested in determining if the prospective payment system (PPS) has improved hospital efficiency over time during the past ten years. The sample for analysis consists of ten years of data after the introduction of the PPS and includes measures of efficiency and other relevant control variables. The analyst hypothesizes that hospital efficiency should have increased each year after the PPS was implemented.Which research method should the analyst use? Time-Series Cross-Sectional Pretest-posttest Randomized Control Trial - Correct Ans-Time-Series Which type of data analysis could be used in quantitative research? Reporting the gender of participants Ranking the severity order with 1 as the worst and 4 as the best Reporting the distribution of results or outcomes Using categorical variables with 0=no and 1=yes - Correct Ans-Reporting the distribution of results or outcomes What is a characteristic of qualitative research methods? Utilizes large sample sizes Determines causal relationships Generalizes results to the population Introduces subjectivity to data collection - Correct Ans-Introduces subjectivity to data collection Many physician practices now utilize an electronic health record (EHR) system that includes a secure messaging feature. Some of these practices have extended their contact with patients by conducting virtual visits between people with diabetes and nurses who are certified diabetes educators. The remote technology includes the ability to monitor blood glucose data to determine if these values are within goal range. After six months, the results of the blood glucose levels for the group participating in the virtual visits were evaluated.Which research method was used? Time-series Clinical trial Pretest-posttest Cross-sectional - Correct Ans-Cross-sectional A researcher wants to determine whether continuity of care is improved with the use of coordination of care documents among primary care physicians and specialists. The researcher decides to review various published studies to assess the clinical effectiveness of these documents on patient outcomes.Which research method is being used? Case study Cohort study Meta-analysis Literature review - Correct Ans-Meta-analysis The state public health researcher wants to begin a five-year initiative to coordinate immunizations for children in the foster care system. The results will be compared to previous years to measure the effectiveness of the initiative.Which research method should be used to study this initiative? Case study Cohort study Longitudinal study Pre/post-study - Correct Ans-Pre/post-study Using publicly reported data from Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services, researchers want to examine the relationship between 30-day readmissions and mortality rates for patients with heart failure at five facilities. Before this can be done, researchers need to estimate mortality rates and readmission rates from heart failure.Which statistical technique should be used to calculate the estimated rates? t-test Analysis of variance Regression analysis Pearson product-moment correlation coefficient - Correct Ans-Regression analysis Researchers want to determine if a particular risk factor or risk factors are associated with the frequency for nonelective readmission within 30 days among patients with diabetes in a metropolitan area. The variables of interest include age, gender, race/ethnicity, and insurance status.Which statistical technique should be used? Mann-Whitney U test Bayesian approach Regression analysis Wilcoxon signed-rank test - Correct Ans-Regression analysis A hospital researcher is interested in investigating the association between hospital ownership (i.e., government, investor, and not-for-profit) on overall hospital quality scores.Research MethodsA cross-sectional data set of all urban hospitals from eight states is used in this study. The data were obtained from various administrative databases: Medicare Hospital Cost Report Information System, the American Hospital Association, and the Area Health Resource File. Descriptive statistics are used to summarize the data. An ordinary least squares regression is used to test the relationship between ownership status and hospital quality while controlling for hospital and market characteristics.Which component is missing from these research methods? Analysis plan Data collection Study population Research design - Correct Ans-Research design Assoc. between pt satisfaction & hospital market share. Researcher hypothesizes that increased pt satisfaction will lead to increase in hosp. market share. Longitudinal study of 7 years will be conducted to assess the change in hospital market share over time. Urban hospitals from the U.S. that have 100 beds will be included. The data set will include hosp. characteristics and market characteristics. Admin. data will be obtained from the Am. Hospital Association's Annual Survey of Hospitals, the Area Health Resources File, and the Hosp. Compare website. The variables included in the data set will control for other factors that may impact hospital pt satisfaction. Stat. significance will be set at α = 0.05 for the analysis. The results of the analysis will be of interest to hospital administrators and policy makers. Which component is missing? Analysis plan Data collection Study population Research design - Correct Ans-Analysis plan After reviewing a quality report from a large urban hospital, an administrator decided to implement a new initiative to improve communication among healthcare professionals. The hospital administrator conducted a survey on safety and error prevention that revealed that ineffective or insufficient communication among team members is a significant contributing factor to adverse events.Which source of data would have been used to highlight patient perception of care? HCAHPS scores Staff turnover rates HIPAA violation lists Prescription data - Correct Ans-HCAHPS scores There have been recent complaints at a pharmacy regarding care, wait times, and errors. The administrator wants to further examine customer satisfaction rates. After examining more information the administrator decides to develop a new patient portal that will allow patients to perform a refill request online. The system will also allow patients to request refills via text or mobile devices.Which two sources of data were used in the change from the old system to the new system? 2 answers Patient wait times Patient portal usage Patient satisfaction surveys Patient demographic profiles - Correct Ans-Patient wait times Patient satisfaction surveys A hospital is experiencing a high rate of nursing turnover during the first year at the hospital. There are many theories as to why turnover in this cohort is so high. The chief executive officer (CEO) has asked the nursing director to study this further and develop some tactics to improve nursing retention. The director plans to gather data, conduct some statistical analysis, and report back to the CEO with an improvement plan.Which type of data would the director gather to develop this plan? Competitor turnover rates Hospital tenure for nurses Overall hospital turnover rate Frequency of hire dates for nurses - Correct Ans-Hospital tenure for nurses A large urban hospital has implemented a new patient registration system to reduce patient complaints, streamline the process, and make it easier to understand.The hospital had been monitoring patient wait times for registration prior to implementing this change.Which aspect of wait time was analyzed in the application of descriptive statistics applied for this scenario? A p-value of wait times was analyzed. An ANOVA of wait times was analyzed. An average of wait times was analyzed. A chi-square of wait times was analyzed. - Correct Ans-An average of wait times was analyzed. A surgical center is experiencing patient attrition. The center has received bad reviews online. One area of complaints is that the center is dirty in common areas. The center conducted a survey to ascertain what the major complaints were. The center has decided to outsource its maintenance in an effort to improve patient satisfaction scores. The median patient satisfaction scores were determined from the survey. How were descriptive statistics applied in this scenario? To determine the variance in patient satisfaction scores To determine factors that influence patient satisfaction scores To determine the 50th percentile of patient satisfaction scores To determine the minimum and maximum patient satisfaction scores - Correct Ans-To determine the 50th percentile of patient satisfaction scores An administrator at an established hospital decided to create a new data collection plan for the quality improvement initiative because the former plan was not acceptable.One concern with the old plan was with the timeliness of the data and with missing data elements associated with wait times and communication.How were descriptive statistics applied in this scenario? To confirm overall diagnoses across timeTo identify the average patient satisfaction scoreTo create a baseline in the organization's current performanceTo run a regression to ensure patients are eligible for bonus programs - Correct Ans-To identify the average patient satisfaction score A surgical center is experiencing patient attrition. The center has received bad reviews online. One area of complaints is that the center is dirty in common areas. The center conducted a survey to ascertain what the major complaints were. The center has decided to outsource its maintenance in an effort to improve patient satisfaction scores.The surgical center reviewed patient satisfaction scores before and after outsourcing its housekeeping services.Which inferential statistic was applied to arrive at the decision to outsource maintenance? A t-test A regression