Making Analytics Relevant to Front-line Health Care Staff

by Trevor Strome October 27, 2010






Analytics – not just for management anymore! In a busy Health Care Organization (HCO), who really cares about performance metrics and analytics? Who should care? Sure, HCO executives and unit managers probably review the reports you produce or access the dashboards you’ve built. But, are the analytics getting through to those who matter most – the […]






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Why Dashboards Aren’t Always the Answer

by Trevor Strome October 21, 2010






When used appropriately, dashboards are essential tools in the management of a healthcare organization (HCO). Dashboards can provide, at a quick glance, an overview of an HCO’s key performance indicators (KPIs) to determine progress towards meeting (or maintaining) strategic and/or tactical goals and objectives. Dashboards are not appropriate in all cases, however. Despite being the […]






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Improve decisions by focusing on processes and metrics that matter

by Trevor Strome October 13, 2010






An information feast or famine Effective decisions require accurate and timely information, yet it is often the case that healthcare decision-makers and quality improvement experts don’t have the right amount of information. Sometimes there is no information available about a certain issue because it is not being collected or is not obtainable from source systems. […]






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Business Intelligence + Lean = “Ah Ha” Moment

by Trevor Strome June 3, 2010






The other day, I was teaching a group of Emergency Department (ED) staff (nurses, healthcare aides, clerks, etc) the principles of Lean.  This was part of our ongoing adoption of Lean Thinking in our EDs, and was especially important because of the impending move into a new ED space later this year. By coaching staff […]






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Ad-hoc reporting is here to stay (for a while, at least), so embrace it!

by Trevor Strome May 25, 2010






Does business intelligence make ad-hoc reporting obsolete? Despite what you might hear from the business intelligence (BI) vendor community, ad-hoc reporting and analysis is not dead – especially in the healthcare field. In my current role, I am tasked with setting up a BI infrastructure to ensure that healthcare managers, directors, and other stakeholders have […]






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Understanding Your Analytics Audience

by Trevor Strome May 11, 2010






Why shouldn’t every Business Intelligence (BI) dashboard and report be a tour de force, showcasing the skills of the BI developer and capabilities of the technologies used? As BI developers become more skilled, and BI systems become more feature-filled, there is the danger of “showing off” and, ultimately, reducing the impact that BI has on […]






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Opening Doors to Innovation and Collaboration (Part I)

by Trevor Strome May 4, 2010






This is the first in a three-part series that explores how healthcare analytics is opening doors to unique collaboration opportunities that foster creativity and innovation. Introduction I was participating in a research meeting at which there were an unusual set of participants, including a PhD epidemiologist, an Emergency Physician, and an Agricultural Meteorologist. We were […]






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What makes a Healthcare Analytics Professional?

by Trevor Strome April 24, 2010






What are the set of skills required for somebody to be considered a healthcare business intelligence (BI) or analytics professional? In the BI discussion groups and blogs that I follow, there has been substantial discussion about the skillsets of BI practitioners. Some commentators argue strongly that it is the technical tools and skills that count […]






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Effective Communication of Healthcare Metrics

by Trevor Strome April 18, 2010






Business Intelligence (BI) and data visualizatiaon commentator Stephen Few recently posted a blog entry entitled, “The Vicious Cycle of Data Impoverishment“. In it he raises the fact that despite “advances” in visualization technology, data which is intended to be communicated via dashboards and other BI/analytics tools is not always presented in clear, accurate, and meaningful […]






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Why the iPad is Good for Healthcare Analytics

by Trevor Strome April 8, 2010






The Apple iPad is being touted as a possible “game-changer” in mobile computing technology, and one of the industries that analysts expect iPad to have considerable success is healthcare. In fact, many healthcare systems vendors are already developing (or investigating the development of) versions of their software that are iPad compatible. Overcoming Barriers As a […]






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