Development, implementation and preliminary evaluation of clinical dashboards in a department of anesthesia

Clinical dashboards summarize indicators of high-volume patient data in a concise, user-friendly visual format. There are few studies of the use of dashboards to improve professional practice in anesthesiology. The objective of the present study was to describe the user-centered development, implementation and preliminary evaluation of clinical dashboards dealing with anesthesia unit management and quality assessment in a French university medical center. User needs and technical requirements were identified in end user interviews and then synthesized. Several representations were then developed (according to good visualization practice) and submitted to end users for appraisal. Lastly, dashboards were implemented and made accessible for everyday use via the medical center’s network. After a period of use, end user feedback on the dashboard platform was collected as a system usability score (range 0 to 100). Seventeen themes (corresponding to 29 questions and 42 indicators) were identified. After prioritization and feasibility assessment, 10 dashboards were ultimately implemented and deployed. The dashboards variously addressed the unit’s overall activity, compliance with guidelines on intraoperative hemodynamics, ventilation and monitoring, and documentation of the anesthesia procedure. The mean (standard deviation) system usability score was 82.6 (11.5), which corresponded to excellent usability. We developed clinical dashboards for a university medical center’s anesthesia units. The dashboards’ deployment was well received by the center’s anesthesiologists. The dashboards’ impact on activity and practice after several months of use will now have to be assessed.