The experiences of 33 national COVID-19 dashboard teams during the first year of the pandemic in the World Health Organization European Region: A qualitative study

Abstract

Background Governments across the World Health Organization (WHO) European Region have prioritised dashboards for reporting COVID-19 data. The ubiquitous use of dashboards for public reporting is a novel phenomenon. Objective This study explores the development of COVID-19 dashboards during the first year of the pandemic and identifies common barriers, enablers and lessons from the experiences of teams responsible for their development. Methods We applied multiple methods to identify and recruit COVID-19 dashboard teams, using a purposive, quota sampling approach. Semi-structured group interviews were conducted from April to June 2021. Using elaborative coding and thematic analysis, we derived descriptive and explanatory themes from the interview data. A validation workshop was held with study participants in June 2021. Results Eighty informants participated, representing 33 national COVID-19 dashboard teams across the WHO European Region. Most dashboards were launched swiftly during the first months of the pandemic, February to May 2020. The urgency, intense workload, limited human resources, data and privacy constraints and public scrutiny were common challenges in the initial development stage. Themes related to barriers or enablers were identified, pertaining to the pre-pandemic context, pandemic itself, people and processes and software, data and users. Lessons emerged around the themes of simplicity, trust, partnership, software and data and change. Conclusions COVID-19 dashboards were developed in a learning-by-doing approach. The experiences of teams reveal that initial underpreparedness was offset by high-level political endorsement, the professionalism of teams, accelerated data improvements and immediate support with commercial software solutions. To leverage the full potential of dashboards for health data reporting, investments are needed at the team, national and pan-European levels.

Epidemic history and evolution of an emerging threat of international concern, the severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2

“…Initially, many countries reported cases through written press releases. As the situation evolved, reporting agencies transitioned to dedicated web pages or interactive dashboards 19 . The increasing number of data sources has posed a significant challenge.…”

“…As the situation evolved, reporting agencies transitioned to dedicated web pages or interactive dashboards. 19 The increasing number of data sources has posed a significant challenge. The scientific community has responded rapidly to the COVID-19 pandemic, releasing over 125 000 COVID-19-related scientific articles within 10 months of the first confirmed case, of which more than 30 000 were hosted by preprint servers.…”

Developing Public Health Surveillance Dashboards: A Scoping Review on the Design Principles

“…Data quality aspects in the examined dashboards included data completeness (e.g., missing data), correctness (e.g., accuracy), currency (e.g., timeliness), and provenance (e.g., reliability of the source). The standards included content, transmission, structural, and security [27,29,34,36,39,41,52,55,56,59]. Transferring data between systems and creating interactions between data sources requires attention to security and data access.…”

“…Given that the web server is open to public access, a backup computer in the middle (intermediary computer) is needed for ltering access to the database [27,29,39] to ensure proper security standards and protect the central database. This means all requests are passed through the web server to the intermediary computer, then to the central database, and vice versa.…”

Interactive SARS-CoV-2 dashboard for real-time geospatial visualisation of sewage and clinical surveillance data from Dhaka, Bangladesh: a tool for public health situational awareness

“…Dashboards have become an increasingly popular way to report COVID-19 incidence to government officials and to the public 11–13. A dashboard tool provides longitudinal and geospatial visual graphics to relate public health information to the end user.…”