An article discussed radiation therapy and new cures from the therapy, along with the harm that could be done if mistakes were made. The following tables represent the results of the types of mistakes made and the causes of mistakes reported to the NewYork State Department of Health from 2001 to 2009:
Radiation Mistakes Number
Missed all or part of intended target.....................284
Wrong dose given..........................................255
Wrong patient treated.......................................50
Other..........................................................32
a. Construct a bar chart and a pie chart for the types of radiation mistakes.
b. Which graphical method do you think is best for portraying these data?
Causes of Mistakes Number
Quality assurance flawed.....................................................355
Data entry or calculation errors by personnel..............................252
Misidentification of patient or treatment location.........................174
Blocks, wedges, or collimators misused.....................................133
Patient's physical setup wrong.................................................96
Treatment plan flawed..........................................................77
Hardware malfunction..........................................................60
Staffing...........................................................................52
Computer software or digital information transfer malfunction..........24
Override of computer data by personnel.....................................19
Miscommunication...............................................................14
Unclear/other......................................................................8
c. Construct a Pareto chart for the causes of mistakes.
d. Discuss the "vital few" and "trivial many" reasons for the causes of mistakes.