Improving the Quality of Visualization Dashboards in Critical Care: A Mixed-Methods Study

Area of Science:

• Healthcare Management
• Quality Improvement Science
• Clinical Informatics

Background:

• Intensive care units (ICUs) face challenges with standardized performance indicators.
• A lack of uniform platforms hinders the presentation and understanding of ICU effectiveness.
• Existing measurement tools may not align with local practice needs.

Purpose of the Study:

• To identify key performance indicators (KPIs) meaningful to ICU stakeholders.
• To guide the development of a localized ICU performance visualization dashboard.
• To assess the feasibility of adapting existing metrics for local ICU quality improvement.

Main Methods:

• Conducted interviews with individual ICU directors to gather input on essential metrics.
• Developed a draft visualization dashboard based on qualitative data from interviews.
• Surveyed 20 stakeholders from various hospital departments for feedback on the dashboard's content and structure.

Main Results:

• Survey results highlighted difficulties in adapting existing measurement tools for local ICU relevance.
• A need for ICU performance measures that are both widely accepted and locally applicable was identified.
• Varied stakeholder feedback underscored the complexity of dashboard development.

Conclusions:

• Interdisciplinary input is crucial for successful ICU quality dashboard development.
• Developing effective dashboards requires balancing standardized metrics with local practice relevance.
• Collaborative development enhances the implementation and utilization of ICU quality improvement tools.