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Analyze nursing data by using PivotTable

reports
Applies to: Microsoft Office Excel 2003

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By Will Rast

Are your unit staff members nodding off as you show them the results of this month's chart audits? Are

anesthetized patients showing more interest in your data than your staff members are showing? Stop using

the same old tables and corporate reports, and start using Microsoft Office Excel 2003 to liven up your data

analysis.

More-useful data analysis


by using Excel 2003
You can use Excel 2003 to track any kind of nursing data that needs to be trended over time. This can be as

simple as tracking the percentage of patients who receive a particular nursing intervention, such as a

pneumonia screen. Or it can be more complex, such as comparing doctors' lengths of stay versus the

complexity of their patient population.

Hospital electronic medial record (EMR) systems are often antiquated. Many facilities still audit nursing and

physician documentation by using paper forms. A typical EMR system can supply you with the raw materials

you need in the form of text files. However, to analyze the information most effectively, you need another

program, such as Excel 2003.

You can use Excel 2003 to provide powerful capabilities that are lacking in most EMR software:

 Trending
 Analyzing data

Benefits of a PivotTable report

What's a PivotTable report? you might ask. A PivotTable report is a standard Excel 2003 report that you can

use to look at your data in multiple ways without laborious data-column manipulation.

Think of an Excel worksheet as an x-ray. Although an x-ray is useful, it is still a static, unchanging image. A

PivotTable report, on the other hand, is more like an ultrasound image or Doppler image. You can use a

PivotTable report to change your view instantly, getting a fuller picture of how your information interrelates.

What data do you need?

Before trying to build a table or chart, think about what you want to analyze. What kinds of questions are you

trying to answer based on the information that you have gathered? How much detail will you need? Are you

looking at how a nursing unit is performing? Do you want to see which nurses did the best job documenting

a particular intervention? Are you looking at patient outcomes related to staffing levels? Do you want to see

how nursing units with a higher percentage of agency nurses are performing versus units with full-time staff?

This may sound elementary, but having a clear idea of what questions you want answered will help you build

a worksheet that contains relevant information.

Build your worksheet correctly

The key to getting PivotTable reports to work well is by accurately building your data worksheet. Follow

these recommendations when you enter data in Excel worksheets:

 Use a unique heading for each column.


 Do not include personal patient data that could lead to privacy violations unless this data is vital to

what you are analyzing.

TIP Use the patient's account number.

 Enter the patient account number (a unique number that corresponds to each patient visit) in the first

column. This indexes each row, so you can find specific charts and information for more in-depth

investigation later.

 Break down data to its simplest form by assigning only one type of data to each column. For example,

the staff member's last name, first name, and title should be in separate columns.

 Leave no cells on the worksheet blank. Use fillers, such as double hyphens (--), in blank cells. The

cells that contain data should be contiguous.

 Use consistent formats, including consistent capitalization. Use either all uppercase letters (for

example, JOHN SMITH), or follow the proper-noun capitalization format (for example, John Smith), but

do not mix capitalization styles.

 Use the same number of decimal places in all numbers and percentages.

 Don't mix format styles for answers. For example, use either "Yes" and "No" or "Y" and "N," but don't

use both styles.

Your worksheet might look like the following.

Get a handle on dates


In the healthcare field, and nursing in particular, healthcare professionals are accustomed to monitoring

events during a specific time period. Did they screen pneumonia patients better this quarter than last? Did

nurses remember more often this month to verbally repeat physicians' orders for confirmation?

To adequately track this type of data, the date of discharge or admission, for example, must be broken down

into month, year, and week or quarter. The good news is that you don't need to do this manually. By adding

a few date-handling columns that contain the necessary formulas down to the end of your worksheet, you

can enter just one date and let the formulas do all the work for you automatically.

Add date-handling cells At the end of each worksheet, you can add a Count, Month, Year, and Quarter

column. For example, if the date on which you want to base your table's time frames in column B, and the

date in cell B2 is "5/19/2005," the date-handling formulas you would enter in the date-handling cells, as well

as the results, are shown in the following table.

Colum
n Formula Result

Month =TEXT(B2,"mmm") May

Year =TEXT(B2, "yyyy") 2005

Quarte =CHOOSE(MONTH(B2),1,1,1,2,2,2,3,3,3,4,4 2
r ,4)

Count =1 1

Here's the step-by-step process for creating date-handling cells:

1. In the first four empty columns of your worksheet name the four columns as follows: Month, Year,

Quarter, and Count.

2. In the first empty cell in the Month column, type the following formula:

=TEXT(B2, "mmm")
where B2 is the cell address of the cell that contains the date on which you want to base your table's

time frames.

3. In the first empty cell in the Year column, type the following formula:

=TEXT(B2, "yyyy")

where B2 is the cell address of the cell that contains the date on which you want to base your table's

time frames.

4. In the first empty cell in the Quarter column, type the following formula:

CHOOSE(MONTH(B2),1,1,1,2,2,2,3,3,3,4,4,4)

where B2 is the cell address of the cell that contains the date on which you want to base your table's

time frames.

5. In the first empty cell in the Count column, type the following formula:

=1

6. Select the cell in the Month column in which you typed the formula, copy the formula, and paste the

formula in the remaining cells in the column.

7. Select the cell in the Year column in which you typed the formula, copy the formula, and paste the

formula in the remaining cells in the column.

8. Select the cell in the Quarter column in which you typed the formula, copy the formula, and paste the

formula in the remaining cells in the column.


9. Select the cell in the Count column in which you typed the formula, copy the formula, and paste the

formula in the remaining cells in the column.

Continuously update your report Say that you want to add data to your worksheet on an ongoing basis.

This would mean having to copy and paste formulas into the date-handling cells every time you added

information. Wouldn't it be nice if the formula could "hide out" and do its job only when you needed it? It can.

You can place the date-handling formulas into the following expression and the results will be displayed only

if there is a date in cell B2, or in whichever cell that contains the date on which you want to base your time

frames:

=IF(ISBLANK(B2),"",(insert date formula here)))

Colum
n Revised formula

Month =IF(ISBLANK(B2),"",(TEXT(B2,"mmm")))

Year =IF(ISBLANK(B2),"",(TEXT(B2,"yyyy")))

Quarte =IF(ISBLANK(B2),"",(CHOOSE(MONTH(B2),1,1,1,2,2,2,3,3,3,4,4,
r 4)))

Count =IF(ISBLANK(B2),"",1)

If the cell that contains the date (in this case, B2) is empty, then the formula keeps the cell blank. If you have

a date in cell B2, then the formula shows you the result.

Here's the step-by-step procedure:

1. In the Month column, type the following formula in the first cell:
=IF(ISBLANK(B2),"",(TEXT(B2,"mmm")))

where B2 is the cell address of the cell that contains the date on which you want to base your table's

time frames.

2. In the Year column, type the following formula in the first cell:

=IF(ISBLANK(B2),"",(TEXT(B2,"yyyy")))

where B2 is the cell address of the cell that contains the date on which you want to base your table's

time frames.

3. In the Quarter column, type the following formula in the first cell:

=IF(ISBLANK(B2),"",(CHOOSE(MONTH(B2),1,1,1,2,2,2,3,3,3,4,4,4)))

where B2 is the cell address of the cell that contains the date on which you want to base your table's

time frames.

4. In the Count column, type the following formula in the first cell:

=IF(ISBLANK(B2),"",1)

where B2 is the cell address of the cell that contains the date on which you want to base your table's

time frames.

5. Select the cell in the Month column in which you typed the formula, and copy and paste the formula in

the remaining cells in the column.


NOTE Depending on how many rows of data you think you'll have, copy the formulas well below the

last row of data you have entered. This way, the formula is there for you and displays the data only

when you need it.

6. Select the cells in the Year column in which you typed the formula, and copy and paste the formula in

the remaining cells in the column.

7. Select the cell in the Quarter column in which you typed the formula, and copy and paste the formula

in the remaining cells in the column.

8. Select the cell in the Count column in which you typed the formula, and copy and paste the formula in

the remaining cells in the column.

Build a PivotTable report


After building a worksheet that contains the data elements you need to answer your questions, you are

ready to create a PivotTable report that will help you find your answers.

Follow these steps:

1. On the worksheet on which you want to base your PivotTable report, select a cell.

2. On the Data menu, click PivotTable and PivotChart Report.


3. Select Microsoft Office Excel list or database and PivotTable, and click Next.

4. Verify that the range for the data is correct, and click Next.

5. Click New worksheet, and click Layout at the bottom of the box.

6. Drag the field buttons to the appropriate areas of the table. For example, if your table contained the

following fields, you might place them in these areas of the report:

 Year, Quarter, and Month in the Page area.

 Unit in the Row area.

 Count in the Data area.

 [Task 1] Complete in the Column area.


7. Click OK.

8. Click Finish.

The PivotTable report is displayed.

Clean up the blank entries


Now you just need to clean up your PivotTable report. If you used date-handling formulas that continuously

update your worksheet, your report contains a column named Blank. To remove these entries from your

report, follow these steps:

1. Click the drop-down arrow to open the drop-down list for a field that contains blank entries, such as

[Task 1] Complete.

2. Clear the (blank) check box.


3. Click OK. Now only the information you want is displayed — the number of Yes and No answers.

Use your PivotTable report


to analyze data
Now comes the fun part — analyzing your data.

View data for a particular time period

1. In the upper-left corner of the PivotTable report, click the drop-down arrow to open the drop-down list

for Month, Year, or Quarter, and select a specific time period.

2. Click OK. Only data that matches the time period you selected is displayed.
Analyze each unit trended by month

 In the PivotTable report, drag the Month cell, which is in the Page area, to the right of the Unit area.

You can now see the results for each month listed in order.
Compare registered nurses to licensed practical nurses in completing a task

1. In the PivotTable report, drag Unit, which is in the Row area, away from the PivotTable report.

2. In the PivotTable Fields List window, drag Title to the Row area of the PivotTable report. You can

now compare the results of one job title with another.


Audit charts for a particular month and unit

 Double-click the number values on the PivotTable report for a specific month and unit. This creates a

new worksheet that includes only those patients for the month and unit you selected. Your medical

records department might even thank you for providing such a concise list.

Put PivotTable reports to


work for you
The key to using PivotTable reports to their full advantage is to examine your data in multiple ways. By

dragging various fields between the table and the PivotTable Field List window, you can discover new

relationships between various pieces of data. Changing dates and layouts in your PivotTable reports makes

the data interactive. You and your staff members can use PivotTable reports to ask questions and have them

answered — immediately.
About the author Will Rast, formerly a field artillery officer in the U.S. Army, has worked in a variety of

positions in the medical field, ranging from a nursing assistant to an open-heart operating room nurse. He

has managed the installations of charting software and has trained medical personnel in using the software.

Will works as a nursing data analyst and resides in Broken Arrow, Oklahoma

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