Involving Health Professionals in the Development of Quality and Safety Dashboards: Qualitative Study

Dashboards are an important tool for hospitals to improve quality and safety performance. However, implementing quality and safety dashboards often does not increase performance due to a lack of use by health professionals. Including health professionals in the development process of quality and safety dashboards can improve their use in practice. Yet, it remains unclear how a development process involving health professionals can be executed successfully.

The aim of this study is twofold: (1) to delineate how a process whereby health professionals are included in the development of quality and safety dashboards can be facilitated and (2) to identify the factors that are important to consider in order to make that process successful.

We conducted a qualitative, in-depth exploratory case study in which we analyzed 150 pages of internal documents and interviewed 13 staff members regarding the development of quality and safety dashboards within 2 care pathways of a hospital that has experience in such development. The data were analyzed inductively using the constant comparative method.

We found that the development of quality and safety dashboards in collaboration with health professionals was facilitated through a five-stage process: (1) familiarizing participants with dashboards and the development process; (2) brainstorming about potential indicators to be included in the dashboard; (3) prioritizing, defining, and selecting indicators to be included in the dashboard; (4) examining how the indicators can be visualized; and (5) implementing the dashboard and following up on its use. To enhance the success of the process, 3 factors were deemed important. The first is to create and maintain broad involvement, ensuring that various professions are represented and take ownership of the dashboard. Here, potential barriers include gaining engagement from peers not directly involved in the process and maintaining involvement after the initial implementation of the dashboard. Second, unburdening, whereby quality and safety staff facilitate a structured process that has little additional burden for professionals. For this, time management and a lack of collaboration with departments responsible for delivering the data might be an issue. Lastly, focusing on relevance for health professionals, which refers to the inclusion of indicators with value for health professionals. For this factor, a lack of consensus on how indicators should be defined and registered might be a barrier.

Health care organizations seeking to develop quality and safety dashboards in collaboration with health professionals can use a 5-stage process. To enhance the success of the process, organizations are advised to focus on 3 key factors. For each of the key factors, potential barriers should be taken into account. Engaging in this process and attaining the key factors could increase the likelihood that the dashboards are used in practice.