Introduction and purpose

AbstractDashboards are health information tools, made to illustrate specific indicator sets. They may demonstrate developments over time, geographic distribution, social inequalities or correlations between different factors, use a wide variety of infographics, and are generally updated very frequently. Dashboards can illustrate data for users without statistical knowledge, and are also useful data repositories for more proficient users. Dashboards are a modern approach to an old problem: data visualization. A well-known historical example is John Snow's mapping of cholera cases in London (1854). Current computer technology and the existence of the internet have made it possible to visualize health indicators in close to real time, and dashboards, like Dr Snow's map, are meant to, store, report and illustrate health indicators in order to affect policy. The indicators selected should be the ones amenable to change because their unsurpassed ability to monitor changing conditions and effects of interventions. Indicator selection is vital to set a baseline for such monitoring, and the indicators selected will of necessity be the ones where measures are taken in order to affect change.Policy will influence the choice of indicators, but indicators will also influence the choice of policies, because these two are intimately intertwined. Dashboards, be they national or regional, open to the public or just open to professional groups, are important implements to reach the policy-maki...
Source: The European Journal of Public Health - Category: General Medicine Source Type: research