Q3 - Hospital patients generally have lower infection

[mshinners]

Question Type:
Explain a Result

Stimulus Breakdown:
We'd expect to see a hospital with semiprivate rooms having higher infection rates and longer hospital stays. Instead, Woodville has a hospital with semiprivate rooms that rivals the infection rate and length of stay of hospitals with private rooms.

Answer Anticipation:
Another interesting Explain a Result question that rules out a common answer choice (see the other LR section, question 5 for another example). Here, it rules out a difference between the patients by stating that the hospitals treat very similar people.

That shouldn't change our overall approach, though - we need something about Woodville's hospital that makes it different than other semiprivate-room hospitals and more similar to the private-room hospitals. Or something that makes these nearby private-room hospitals closer to a semiprivate room (i.e., worse).

Correct Answer:
(D)

Answer Choice Analysis:
(A) Tempting! This definitely makes Woodville and the other hospitals more similar. However, this doesn't address the underlying paradox - hospitals with semiprivate rooms have longer stays/higher infection rates than others. Even if we accept this answer, we don't know why Woodville is different than those other semiprivate-room hospitals.

(B) If anything, opposite. This suggests a difference between Woodville and the other hospitals, and we want something that makes them similar.

(C) Opposite. This ups the paradox - Woodville has semiprivate rooms, so we should see a higher infection rate.

(D) Boom! Woodville's policy makes it closer to a private hospital by only putting one person to a room when possible. This draws the hospitals together, explaining how the difference isn't as big a deal as we previously thought.

(E) Out of scope. Where they're located doesn't impact the infection rate or stay length. Also, this draws a difference between Woodville and the other hospitals, and we were looking for a similarity.

Takeaway/Pattern: As is so often the case, this Explain a Result question turns on a comparison. Also, the trap answer aligned with the situation but didn't explain why this case was an exception. Finally, we're seeing a pattern of Explain a Result questions that explicitly rule out a common answer choice in the stimulus; be on the lookout for it!

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