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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.
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.
Kathy Rowell is a nationally recognized health, healthcare, and data visualization expert, lecturer, and author specializing in helping leading organizations analyze, design, and present visual displays of data to inform their decisions and stimulate effective action. She is the co-author of the Best Boring Book Ever (BBBE) of Healthcare Classification Systems and Databases, and BBBE of Tableau for Healthcare Professionals, which are used by numerous colleges and universities and professional organizations to teach and train students and professionals.
Kathy is the Co-founder and Principal of HealthDataViz (HDV) where she has led innovative and ground-breaking projects and data visualization training initiatives for leading organizations such as Memorial Sloan Kettering Cancer Center, the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services, and the Children’s Hospital Association. A graduate of the University of NH and Dartmouth Medical School, Kathy lives in Maine and loves being on the water and cruising the coast with her family on their boat "Visualize."
With seven years wholly immersed in healthcare data visualization, following ten years as a licensed marriage and family therapist, Lindsay brings a wealth of direct care experience and an unbridled passion and nationally recognized expertise for visualizing health and healthcare data. A Tableau Zen Master and member of the HealthDataViz (HDV) team, Lindsay is an enthusiastic creator of effective, intuitive, and beautiful dashboards that people love to use and make the story and opportunities buried in the data clear. Her passion for health and healthcare data knows no bounds evidenced by her establishment of #ProjectHealthViz, a community of passionate data visualizers that create displays of health and healthcare data each month to tell our health stories.
Lindsay has a B.A. from Bucknell University and an M.A. from the University of Connecticut. She currently lives in Pennsylvania with her husband and two boys.
Cambria Brown has over ten years of experience analyzing and visualizing health and healthcare data, and is a Tableau Desktop Certified Professional. With a background in public health, survey design, advanced biostatistics, and quality improvement, Cambria understands the full data use cycle and is passionate about helping organizations use data to improve health.
As a member of the HealthDataViz team, she has developed beautiful, user-friendly, and high impact dashboards for a variety of clients including the New York City Dept. of Health and Mental Hygiene, the Colorado Dept. of Public Health and Environment, and the Urban Indian Health Institute. Cambria holds a Master of Public Health in Epidemiology and Biostatistics from Oregon Health & Science University. She lives in Colorado where, when not data vizzing, she enjoys going on adventures with her husband and two children.
Preface
Section I Establishing a Framework and Process
Chapter 1 Introduction
Health and Healthcare Data Visualizations of Historical Importance
Chapter 2 Health and Healthcare Data: Stop Hunting Unicorns and Start Building Teams
Search for Characteristics and Core Competencies
Get to Know the Data
Classifications, Intent, Purpose, and Lineage
Two Types of Data
Scales/Levels of Measure
Nominal
Ordinal
Interval
Ratio
Summary
Chapter 3 Requirements-Gathering and Design Methods
Design Thinking Foundational Concepts
Design Methods
Contextual Inquiry
Mental Models
Personas
Persona Creation Guide
Graphic Organizers
Guided Analytics Framework
Summary Overview Dashboard
Supporting Focused Reports
Details
Multidimensional Exploratory Displays (MEDs)
Process Tip
Sketching
Prototyping
Testing
Summary
Section II Perceiving the Best Practices of Data Visualization
Chapter 4 The Research
Research Informs Data Visualization Best Practices
Preattentive Attributes
Preattentive Attributes at Work
Gestalt Principles
Color Theory
The Power of White Space
Where People Look
Summary
Chapter 5 Table Design Checklist
Fundamentals of Table Design
Organization/Categorization
Non-Data Ink
Fonts
Number Alignment and Formatting
Labels
Summary
Chapter 6 Powerful Visualizations in Four Shapes
Bars, Lines, Points, and Boxes
Shape One: Bars
Bar Basics
Using Bars To: See How You’re Doing
Distributions
Histograms
Population Pyramid (Paired Bars)
Ranking
Change over Time
Comparing Multiple Data Points
Proportions | Part-to-Whole
Challenging the 100% Myth
Deviation (Difference, Variation)
Ranges and Comparative Values
Displaying the Vital Few: Pareto Charts
Bars Are Not Boring
Shape Two: Lines
Line Basics
Using Lines To: See How You’re Doing
As a Reference | Comparison
Change over Time
Change over Time | Sparklines
Change over Time | Deviation Graphs
Distributions
Distributions | The Empirical Rule and Control Charts
Statistical Process Control Charts (SPCs) and Geometric (G) Charts
Relationships | Correlations
Shape Three: Points
Point Basics
Using Points To: See How You’re Doing
Distributions
Revealing Details
Change over Time
Correlation
Hierarchy Quadrant
Location Details
Shape Four: Boxes
Box Basics
Using Boxes To: See How You’re Doing
Distribution
Multiple Values
Change over Time and Utilization Rates
Hierarchical Data
Other Shapes
Summary
Chapter 7 Maps
Using Maps to Gain Insights
Geographic Maps
Choropleth Maps
Hex-Tile Maps
Symbol/Dot-Density Maps
Proportional Symbol Maps
When Not to Use a Map
Summary
Chapter 8 Graphs and Charts to Never Use or Use with Caution
When “Cool Displays” Are Anything But
Pie and Donut Charts
Why People Use Them
Characteristics
Challenges
Best Practice Alternative
Multiples of Several-Part Stacked Bar Charts (MSPSBCs)
Why People Use Them
Characteristics
Challenges
Best Practice Alternative
Bubble Charts
Why People Use Them
Characteristics
Challenges
Best Practice Alternative
Treemaps
Why People Use Them
Characteristics
Challenges
Best Practice Alternative
Marimekko (Mekko or Mosaic) Charts
Why People Use Them
Characteristics
Challenges
Best Practice Alternative
Radial Bar and Petal Charts
Why People Use Them
Characteristics
Challenges
Best Practice Alternative
Radar Charts
Why People Use Them
Characteristics
Challenges
Best Practice Alternative
Sankey Diagrams
Why People Use Them
Characteristics
Challenges
Best Practice Alternative
One More Thing: 3-D
Summary
Chapter 9 Making Accessible Visualizations
Accessible Design Is Good Design
Accessibility in Data Visualization
Ways to Make Accessible Data Visualizations
Summary
Section III Creating Compelling Data Displays
Chapter 10 Dashboards, Reports, and Multidimensional Exploratory Displays (MEDs)
Definitions Matter
Dashboards
Dashboards Defined
Purpose/Objective
Data/Information
Design
Example Dashboards
Dashboard Design Tips
Dashboard Summary
Reports
Reports Defined
Purpose/Objective
Data/Information
Design
Example Reports
Report Design Tips
Report Summary
Multidimensional Exploratory Displays (MEDs)
MEDs Defined
Purpose/Objective
Data/Information
Design
Example MED
MEDs Design Tips
MEDs Summary
Summary
Chapter 11 Infographics
“No Tobacco Day” Infographic
Measles and Vaccinations Infographic
Infographic vs. Infoposter
Tips for Creating Infographics
Summary
Section IV Closing Thoughts and Recommended Reading and Resources
Closing Thoughts
Bitten by the Viz Bug | Recommended Reading and Resources
References
Index
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