Visualizing the Maternal Health Journey for Learning Health Systems: Mixed Methods Combined Experience Approach.

Area of Science:

• Public Health
• Health Informatics
• Data Visualization

Background:

• The United States experiences a significant maternal mortality crisis, disproportionately affecting Black women.
• Traditional data visualizations obscure patient-level experiences and mask critical health inequities.

Purpose of the Study:

• To develop and apply an innovative Visualized Combined Experience (VCE) diagram to illustrate maternal mortality disparities.
• To explore how integrated visualization techniques can reveal connections between individual patient experiences and population-level health outcomes.
• To assess the potential of the VCE diagram to inform a learning health system (LHS).

Main Methods:

• A mixed-methods approach using quantitative data from the CDC and qualitative data from "Lost Mothers."
• Construction of the VCE diagram through a seven-step process, including composite personas, journey maps, and Sankey diagrams.
• Integration of quantitative mortality data with qualitative patient narratives and a "closer look" inset to expose hidden disparities.

Main Results:

• The VCE diagram effectively illustrated disparities, showing a maternal mortality rate of 51.2 per 1000 births for Black women versus 16.8 for White women.
• The visualization revealed the link between diagnostic delay and mortality, demonstrating how aggregate data can obscure these critical issues.
• The VCE diagram facilitated a more empathetic and efficient understanding of maternal health outcomes.

Conclusions:

• The VCE diagram bridges micro-level patient experiences with macro-level data, enhancing service evaluation and improving health outcomes.
• This replicable visualization framework highlights systemic disparities often hidden in aggregate data.
• The VCE diagram can foster organizational learning and continuous improvement within a learning health system (LHS).