Cheryl Kraemer/Module 5

California Health Care Foundation (February, 2014).Worth a thousand words: How to display health data.  Retrieved from: http://www.chcf.org/~/media/MEDIA%20LIBRARY%20Files/PDF/W/PDF%20WorthThousandWordsDataViz.pdf

Why was this article, blog, post, or multimedia chosen?

          This article was chosen because it provides information on how to best present health data for clarity, storytelling and impact.  It includes case studies, a toolkit on presenting data visually, and strategies for sharing data.      

What makes it interesting, appropriate, or reputable?

          What makes it reputable is that it comes for the California HealthCare Foundation, a nonprofit whose goal is to improve clinical outcomes, reduce health disparities, and promote accountability in California’s health care system.  It provides steps to get data from its original format into a presentation.  The steps include identifying the data available, determining the format of the data as it is currently, deciding on the message to be conveyed, identifying how data will be updated to encourage continuous use of the information, and deciding on a presentation approach.

Is it an opinion? Case study? Research study? Product review?

          It is a presentation by Forum One a web strategy design and development firm using a grant from the California HealthCare Foundation.

What was the need, problem, issue or trend addressed in the article, blog, post, or multimedia?

          The need that is addressed is how to make data presentable in order to better communicate a message. 

What was the solution for which technology had an answer?

          The solution is to use technology as a medium to translate complex data into simple messages. 

The presentation provided a case study of how one public health department communicated  short message to communicate health initiatives in the county.   Presenting data via charts and graphs make it clear and meaningful.  Chloropleth maps use animated graphics and allow users to change timeframes to view different sets of data.  Interactive visualizations allow users to look at different details.   Examples of interactive programming tools were provided for novice and advanced programmers.

 What implications might this have in healthcare delivery?

     The vast volumes of data that are provided with electronic health records make it easy to be overwhelmed by reports.  Having suggestions on how to display the data so it is meaningful is critical.  Too many reports are generated but the recipients of the reports do not understand what is trying to be conveyed.  Having key pieces of data displayed in easy to understand formats will make it more likely for the data to have an effect and possibly produce a change.

What did you learn from it that might have application for your practice?

          I am interested in learning more about reporting.  Having ideas about how to effectively display data will allow me to present information in a format that is meaningful to my audience.