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Brain Power: What’s Your Data Telling You?

By The SHSMD Team posted 10-25-2016 01:46 PM

  

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Today, the volume of raw data a healthcare organization collects can be overwhelming. In fact, it is estimated that 90 percent of all the data in existence today was created in the last two years. The challenge for healthcare strategists is to figure out ways to make sense of all this information.

Even “big data” means nothing out of context.
“Data is only valuable if it can deliver insights that enable better decision making. And strategists have a role in adopting the best tools for collecting data, analyzing it, and communicating information,” says Andrea Simon, PhD, corporate anthropologist and founder/principal at Simon Associates Management Consultants.

Dr. Simon works with organizations to transform information into a compelling “story,” or messaging, to communicate logical solutions and strategies that leaders and their teams can act upon. “If people are going to embrace data’s insights, they must be able to envision its power,” she says.

We believe with our emotions and justify with reason.
According to Dr. Simon, research reveals the brain recognizes patterns in order to rapidly predict what might happen next. The studies show that stories are the most effective and elegant way to craft and communicate those patterns.

“This means that the stories organizations develop to make data understandable are not simply cute, fun ways of dressing up the facts,” Dr. Simon says. “They are essential tools for conveying meaning and connecting emotionally with others. Using charts and graphs might make us feel smart, but it is only when we read or listen to stories, and share them, that we truly understand the practical and psychological needs of consumers. Stories work through the integration of the senses—sound, texture, color, sensation, and emotion—to give us deeper insights into people’s needs.”

Data visualization can transform information into actions.
In the September/October 2016 issue of SHSMD’s Spectrum magazine, Dr. Simon shares the story of a hospital that utilized data-driven decision making and visualization to respond to a critical development in its physician network.

SHSMD members, read the full article: Brain Power: Data Visualization Can Transform Information into Useful Insights and Actions
Nonmembers, click here to Join SHSMD.

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