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Design Practices for Data Dashboards in Health Care: Scoping Review
Heike Vornhagen1, Stephen Barrett2, Ciara Carroll2
1Insight Research Ireland Centre for Data Analytics, Data Science Institute, Ollscoil na Gaillimhe - University of Galway, Galway, Ireland.
Background:
Health care dashboards have the potential to enhance understanding, decision-making, and communication. However, their design, implementation, and evaluation are often hindered by the absence of standardized guidelines. This scoping review synthesizes international evidence to identify common practices for health care dashboard design, providing a foundation for application in the Irish context.
Objective:
This study aimed to identify existing guidelines and common practices for health care dashboard design to inform future development and implementation within the Irish health care system.
Methods:
A scoping review using an evidence summary approach was conducted. PubMed, Embase, Scopus, and IEEE Xplore (2014-2024) were searched. Practices were extracted and analyzed using reflexive thematic analysis and then grouped into 4 main pillars: approach (engagement of end users and stakeholders), content (data quality, effective insights, and presentation), behavior (usability and accessibility), and adoption (sustainability).
Results:
From 1644 initially identified studies, 18 (1.1%) met the inclusion criteria. Most were hospital focused (13/18, 72.2%), with few community- or public-facing dashboards. Only 4 of 18 (22.2%) studies described structured guidelines; most implementations (14/18, 77.8%) were ad hoc. Common practices included user involvement, actionable metrics, data quality, usability, and workflow integration. Divergences were observed: hospitals prioritized clinical indicators, public dashboards emphasized transparency, and community dashboards were underrepresented. Conflicting findings included debate over interactivity vs static simplicity.
Conclusions:
Dashboard design remains fragmented, with limited guidance for structured design or implementation. The 4 pillars provide a practical synthesis of best practices, highlighting pathways for evidence-informed, user-centered design. These pillars will inform future consensus building and co-design of health care dashboards in Ireland and can serve as a foundation for broader application in primary care, community, and public health settings.
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