Healthcare companies are now in the quest to provide quality medical care to treat their patients with the best possible service. One of the toughest challenges hospitals confronts is keeping track of patient records and analyzing vast amounts of data. This becomes especially difficult given the growing number of various services and patient requests. Yet, technical advancement doesn’t stand still either—the healthcare industry is constantly evolving, bringing new innovations that are meant to make our work a tad easier.
Healthcare dashboards development is a perfect example of such an innovation. It goes beyond basic data storage since it allows the creation of automatic reports, prescriptions, and analysis, monitoring through the whole patient recovery journey.
Companies with affiliates are especially aimed at building a healthcare KPI dashboard. These companies are leveraging their networks to bring together various stakeholders in the healthcare ecosystem, from hospitals and clinics to insurers and pharmaceutical companies. Such a wide system can’t do without accurate customer analytics, so it must have a reliable platform in place. But while network companies may have the resources and expertise to develop their own custom medical dashboards, smaller healthcare organizations may struggle to manage the process on their own. That’s why we’ve put together this guide on how to create a healthcare dashboard, no matter what size your company is.
Must-have Features for Dashboards in Healthcare
Real-time Data Updates
It is important to keep all the information up-to-date to prevent medical staff from making ill-informed decisions. A medical data dashboard that provides real-time data updates allows healthcare providers to react promptly without the need for constant data checks and refreshments. It’s like having a crystal ball that provides the latest information on a patient’s health status, allowing providers to provide the best care possible.
Customizable Data Visualization
Customizable data visualization is another must-have feature for developing a custom interactive medical data dashboard. Healthcare organizations deal with vast amounts of data, and displaying it clearly is crucial. A customizable data visualization feature allows users to view data in a way that makes the most sense to them. For instance, clinicians can easily view trends in a patient’s condition, while administrators can monitor hospital operations with ease.
Security and Compliance
Security and data protection are crucial features for medical dashboards, considering the sensitive nature of healthcare data. Patient privacy must be protected at all times, in addition to being HIPAA-compliant. A secure medical data dashboard ensures that only authorized personnel can access sensitive information, and all data is encrypted to protect it from external threats.
User-friendly Interface
A user-friendly interface is essential for a medical data dashboard. Healthcare providers and administrators should be able to navigate the dashboard easily and quickly find the information they require. A user-friendly interface is like a well-organized toolbox—you can easily find the tool you need without wasting time searching for it.
6 Steps of Interactive Healthcare Dashboards Development
With all the core features in mind, let’s dive into healthcare dashboards development process.
Step 1: Determine the Type of Medical Dashboard
When it comes to creating data visualization dashboards for healthcare, the first step is to determine the type of dashboard that best suits your healthcare organization’s needs. Here are the five main types of healthcare dashboards:
Operational Dashboards
Operational dashboards provide real-time data on the day-to-day operations of a healthcare organization. They allow administrators to monitor the efficiency of the hospital or clinic and identify areas that require improvement. Operational dashboards typically display data on bed occupancy rates, patient wait times, and staff productivity, among others.
Clinical Dashboards
Healthcare providers use clinical dashboards to access real-time data on a patient’s health status and their medical plan. They help clinicians monitor vital signs, medication schedules, and lab results, among other critical patient information. Clinical dashboards enable healthcare providers to make informed decisions promptly and provide the best possible care to their patients.
Financial Dashboards
Financial dashboards provide insights into the financial performance of a healthcare organization. They enable administrators to monitor revenue streams, expenses, and profits, among other financial metrics. Financial dashboards are especially useful for CFOs and financial analysts who need to track and analyze financial data accurately.
Quality Dashboards
These are dashboard for monitoring performance in a healthcare company. They allow administrators to track the organization’s compliance with regulations and standards and identify areas that require improvement. Quality dashboards typically display data on patient satisfaction rates, readmission rates, and infection rates, among others.
Strategic Dashboards
Senior executives and decision-makers use strategic dashboards to monitor the organization’s long-term goals and strategic initiatives. They provide insights into the organization’s performance across multiple departments and enable executives to make informed decisions that align with the organization’s overall strategy.
Step 2: Define Dashboard Objectives and KPIs
Once you’ve identified the type of dashboard, it’s essential to set the objectives and KPIs—the performance indicator requirements. It’s crucial to define what you want to achieve with the dashboard and the metrics you’ll use to measure its success, such as CME score and other important indicators.
Step 3: Gather Data
The next step is to collect and gather the data needed to populate the dashboard. It’s vital to ensure the accuracy and completeness of personal data to provide reliable insights and well-informed decisions.
Step 4: Choose Visualization Tools and Design the Dashboard
The visualization tools you choose will determine the effectiveness and usability of the dashboard. The appropriate visualization tools are essential to display the metrics and indicators required effectively. So, how to make a data visualization dashboard for healthcare? Use tools, such as Tableau, that can create intuitive and interactive visuals, which allow users to explore and analyze the data easily.
Step 5: Test and Deploy the Dashboard
Before launching the dashboard, it’s important to conduct thorough testing to ensure it’s free of bugs and glitches. Once it passes the testing phase, it’s time to deploy the dashboard and make it available to users.
Step 6: Monitor and Improve the Dashboard
The final step is to monitor the dashboard’s usage and performance continually. This allows you to identify areas for improvement and make necessary changes to enhance its effectiveness and user experience. It’s important to ensure that the indicators and metrics are displayed graphically, providing a clear and concise understanding of the data.
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Is the Creation of a Custom Medical Dashboard Worth It?
The creation of custom medical dashboards has become increasingly popular in recent years due to the numerous benefits they offer. Here are some elaborations on the key factors to consider when deciding whether a custom medical dashboard is worth investing in:
Flexibility
Healthcare providers can benefit greatly from the flexibility offered by custom medical dashboards. These dashboards can be tailored to specific needs and workflows, making it easier for doctors and other healthcare professionals to access and analyze patient data. Creating a healthcare dashboard with custom metrics can provide insights that are unique to the organization and can be used to inform treatment plans, identify trends and patterns, and improve patient outcomes.
Integration
Integration is crucial when developing performance dashboards for healthcare. A well-designed dashboard should be able to integrate seamlessly with existing systems and technologies, such as electronic health records (EHRs), medical imaging systems, and laboratory information systems. This can help reduce manual data entry errors, improve the accuracy and completeness of patient records, and streamline workflows.
Scalability
A custom medical dashboard should be designed with scalability in mind to accommodate the evolving needs of healthcare organizations. As healthcare providers expand their services or add new clinics, the dashboard should be able to handle the increased workload and data volume. This can help ensure that the dashboard remains a valuable tool for years to come.
Security
Patient data is highly sensitive and must be protected at all times. A custom medical dashboard is a trustworthy software solution to prevent unauthorized access, data breaches, and other security threats. This may include encryption, multi-factor authentication, and access controls. Regular security audits should also be conducted to ensure the dashboard remains secure and compliant with regulations.
User experience
A custom medical dashboard’s success depends on the user experience. It should be intuitive, easy to use, and provide healthcare providers with the necessary information at a glance. Such dashboards include a wide range of health-related analytic software tools that do all the analytics many times faster and more precisely. Also, a well-designed dashboard can increase adoption rates and reduce the learning curve, making it more likely that healthcare providers will use the dashboard to its full potential.
Consider Langate as Your Trusted Partner
If you are looking to build an interactive healthcare dashboard with flawless management software and an immersive user experience, we’ve got good news! Today is your lucky chance to embody your vision with Langate. Our team of developers and designers boasts an impressive range of technical skills and expertise that allows us to build interactive dashboards that are not only visually stunning but also highly functional and customizable. From the partnership with Langate, you can expect nothing less than excellence in every aspect of your project, from conception to delivery. Contact us today to learn more about how to make a custom medical dashboard that makes a difference!
