What makes COVID-19 dashboards actionable? Lessons learned from international and country-specific studies of COVID-19 dashboards and with dashboard developers in the WHO European Region

Abstract

Although COVID-19 dashboards may be widely accessible, their effective use to modify the course of the pandemic through the translation of data to information, information to opinions, and opinions to decision-making is determined by their actionability. To be actionable, the information should be both fit for purpose-meeting a specific information need-and fit for use-placing the right information into the right hands at the right time and in a manner that can be understood. Recognizing the sustained importance of COVID-19 dashboards as a tool for pandemic reporting, studies to describe this landscape and take stock of experiences are of critical importance for better preparedness in future public health crises. Since early 2020, the international network of healthcare performance intelligence researchers-HealthPros-in collaboration with partners including the WHO Regional Office for Europe, have worked to systematically study the actionability of COVID-19 dashboards by comparatively studying their composition, changes over time and development process. In this presentation, results from this series of research will be summarized. Topics to be covered include: A summary of seven key features constituting actionable dashboards resulting from a descriptive assessment and scoring of 158 dashboards from more than 53 countries worldwide.Insights into changes to dashboards over the course of 2020-21 from country-specific studies in Canada, the Netherlands and Italy.Lessons learned from the perspective of COVID-19 national, governmental dashboard developers in the WHO European Region, including key enablers and barriers to the development, maintenance and evolution of dashboards over the course of the pandemic.