1676135716842214

The emphasis is on tools for displaying and interpreting data, and fitting them to the task is crucial for acceptance and change. Visual display is effective for data analysis and decision-making. Balancing detail and summary is important, as is understanding the audience's preferences. Information technology has greatly impacted healthcare, especially with electronic medical records. IT is used for quality and safety initiatives, including simulation. Patient perception of care is important for reimbursement. Achieving satisfaction with broad definitions of quality is a challenge. Let's shift the emphasis to the tools for displaying and interpreting the information generated by the selected measures. It is important to keep in mind that fitting the measurement results or the tool to the task can be a critical factor in the acceptance and adoption of change. As you read through the various descriptions and examples of the common forms of data display and interpretation, the underlying need that must be addressed in all of these settings is ensuring that the display output makes sense in the context of the data that is being displayed and analyzed. Most people are visual in their learning preference. The ancient Chinese proverb that a picture is worth 10,000 words really is applicable in this context. Analysis of data often requires display of the information in order for people to interpret and act on the findings in an appropriate and timely manner. Hitting a balance between detail and summarization of the information that's derived from measurement is as much an art form as science. Knowing your potential audience and their preferences for the measurement information is quite powerful when deciding what shape and form the measurement information should take in a given circumstance. This week will be more topic-focused. The use of information technology in healthcare has grown exponentially. The electronic medical record, better known as the EMR, is standard for healthcare documentation and the expanded use of IT is breaking many barriers. Utilization of IT in healthcare quality and safety is proving to advance many initiatives both proactively and post-occurrence. Simulation is not new to the healthcare field. Use cases for education and training have been well-accepted. Expanded use for quality improvement topics continues to be implemented. Patients' perception of care is very important and often tied to reimbursement. Hospitals and other healthcare providers have been trying to master this field, really, for decades. As we know, quality is in the eye of the beholder. How can we achieve satisfaction when that definition is so broad?