Hospital infection rate is an area of concern for both clinicians and administrators. The hospital staff reviews and analyzes monthly infection rates for a particular hospital. The management is making considerable changes based on the August infection rate of 10, claiming an increase of 43% relative to the previous month warrants drastic action.

1. Now that you understand variation and control charts, the distinction between common cause and special cause variation, educate the management about current changes. Develop a control chart and discuss your findings. Characterize the variation. What improvement strategy do you recommend?
2. If the next month's (September) rate is 20, how would you judge that value with the previous months? What actions do you recommend?
3. If the infection rate for October is 3, how would you judge that month? What actions do you recommend?