Visualizing Health and Healthcare Data: Creating Clear and Compelling Visualizations to "See How You're Doing"

The only data visualization book written by and for health and healthcare professionals. In health and healthcare, data and information are coming at organizations faster than they can consume and interpret it. Health providers, payers, public health departments, researchers, and health information technology groups know the ability to analyze and communicate this vast array of data in a clear and compelling manner is paramount to success.  However, they simply cannot find experienced people with the necessary qualifications. The quickest (and often the only) route to meeting this challenge is to hire smart people and train them. Visualizing Health and Healthcare Data: Creating Clear and Compelling Visualizations to "See how You're Doing" is a one-of-a-kind book for health and healthcare professionals to learn the best practices of data visualization specific to their field. It provides a high-level summary of health and healthcare data, an overview of relevant visual intelligence research, strategies and techniques to gather requirements, and how to build strong teams with the expertise required to create dashboards and reports that people love to use. Clear and detailed explanations of data visualization best practices will help you understand the how and the why. Learn how to build beautiful and useful  data products that deliver powerful insights for the end user Follow along with examples of data visualization best practices, including table and graph design for health and healthcare data Learn the difference between dashboards, reports, multidimensional exploratory displays and infographics (and why it matters) Avoid common mistakes in data visualization by learning why they do not work and better ways to display the data Written by a top leader in the field of health and healthcare data visualization, this book is an excellent resource for top management in healthcare, as well as entry-level to experienced data analysts in any health-related organization.

Table of Contents:
Preface xiii Section I Establishing a Framework and Process 1 Chapter 1 Health and Healthcare Data Visualizations of Historical Importance 3 Chapter 2 Stop Hunting Unicorns and Start Building Teams and Know The Data 9 Search for Characteristics and Core Competencies 10 Get to Know the Data 11 Classifications, Intent, Purpose, and Lineage 12 Two Types of Data 14 Qualitative/Categorical Data 14 Quantitative/Numerical Data 14 Scales/Levels of Measure 15 Nominal 15 Ordinal 16 Interval 17 Ratio 18 Summary 19 Chapter 3 Requirements-Gathering and Design Methods 21 Design Thinking Foundational Concepts 22 Design Methods 23 Contextual Inquiry 23 Mental Models 24 Personas 26 Persona Creation Guide 27 Graphic Organizers 29 Guided Analytics Framework 29 Summary Overview Dashboard 30 Supporting Focused Reports 30 Details 31 Multidimensional Exploratory Displays (MEDs™) 31 Sketching 32 Prototyping 33 Testing 34 Summary 36 Section II Perceiving the Best Practices of Data Visualization 37 Chapter 4 The Research 39 Research Informs Data Visualization Best Practices 39 Preattentive Attributes 41 Preattentive Attributes at Work 43 Gestalt Principles 46 Color Theory 48 The Power of White Space 53 Where People Look 54 Summary 54 Chapter 5 Table Design Checklist 55 Fundamentals of Table Design 55 Organization/Categorization 55 Non-Data Ink 56 Fonts 56 Number Alignment and Formatting 56 Labels 58 Summary 58 Chapter 6 Powerful Visualizations in Four Shapes 59 Bars, Lines, Points, and Boxes 59 Shape One: Bars 61 Bar Basics 61 Using Bars To: See How You’re Doing 63 Distributions 63 Histograms 63 Population Pyramid (Paired Bars) 65 Ranking 67 Change over Time 68 Comparing Multiple Data Points 70 Proportions | Part-to-Whole 71 Challenging the 100% Myth 73 Deviation (Difference, Variation) 73 Ranges and Comparative Values 74 Displaying the Vital Few: Pareto Charts 77 Bars Are Not Boring 78 Shape Two: Lines 79 Line Basics 79 Using Lines To: See How You’re Doing 83 As a Reference | Comparison 83 Change over Time 84 Change over Time | Sparklines 86 Change over Time | Deviation Graphs 87 Distributions 88 Distributions | The Empirical Rule and Control Charts 88 Statistical Process Control Charts (SPCs) and Geometric (G) Charts 90 Relationships | Correlations 91 Shape Three: Points 92 Point Basics 92 Using Points To: See How You’re Doing 94 Distributions 94 Revealing Details 95 Change over Time 96 Correlation 96 Hierarchy Quadrant 97 Location Details 98 Shape Four: Boxes 98 Box Basics 99 Using Boxes To: See How You’re Doing 99 Distribution 99 Multiple Values 100 Change over Time and Utilization Rates 101 Hierarchical Data 101 Other Shapes 102 Summary 103 Chapter 7 Maps 105 Using Maps to Gain Insights 105 Geographic Maps 105 Choropleth Maps 106 Hex-Tile Maps 109 Symbol/Dot-Density Maps 110 Proportional Symbol Maps 112 When Not to Use a Map 113 Summary 114 Chapter 8 Graphs and Charts to Never Use or Use with Caution 115 When “Cool Displays” Are Anything But 115 Pie and Donut Charts 117 Why People Use Them 117 Characteristics 118 Challenges 118 Best Practice Alternative 119 Multiples of Several-Part Stacked Bar Charts (MSPSBCs) 121 Why People Use Them 121 Characteristics 121 Challenges 121 Best Practice Alternative 124 Bubble Charts 124 Why People Use Them 124 Characteristics 125 Challenges 125 Best Practice Alternative 126 Treemaps 128 Why People Use Them 128 Characteristics 129 Challenges 129 Best Practice Alternative 130 Marimekko (Mekko or Mosaic) Charts 132 Why People Use Them 132 Characteristics 132 Challenges 134 Best Practice Alternative 134 Radial Bar and Petal Charts 134 Why People Use Them 134 Characteristics 135 Challenges 135 Best Practice Alternative 136 Radar Charts 138 Why People Use Them 138 Characteristics 138 Challenges 138 Best Practice Alternative 139 Sankey Diagrams 141 Why People Use Them 141 Characteristics 141 Challenges 142 Best Practice Alternative 144 One More Thing: 3-D 145 Summary 146 Chapter 9 Making Accessible Visualizations 149 Accessible Design is Good Design 149 Accessibility in Data Visualization 150 Ways to Make Accessible Data Visualizations 151 Summary 158 Section III Creating Compelling Data Displays 159 Chapter 10 Dashboards, Reports, and Multidimensional Exploratory Displays (MEDs™) 161 Definitions Matter 161 Dashboards 162 Dashboards Defined 162 Purpose/Objective 162 Data/Information 163 Design 164 Example Dashboards 165 Dashboard Summary 169 Reports 170 Reports Defined 170 Purpose/Objective 170 Design 170 Example Reports 171 Report Summary 176 Multidimensional Exploratory Displays (MEDs™) 176 MEDs™ Defined 177 Purpose/Objective 177 Design 177 Example MED™ 177 MEDs™ Summary 184 Summary 184 Chapter 11 Infographics 185 "No Tobacco Day" Infographic 186 Measles and Vaccinations Infographic 188 Infographic vs. Infoposter 191 Summary 194 Section IV Closing Thoughts and Recommended Reading and Resources 195 Closing Thoughts 197 Fluency and Mastery 197 Bitten by the Viz Bug | Recommended Reading and Resources 199 Recommended Reading 199 Resources 201 Accessibility Resources 202 Author Bios 203 References 207 Index 211