A web-based dashboard to facilitate progress management of pathology workflows

Abstract

The Department of Pathology at Haukeland University Hospital in Bergen (HUS) has in recent years experienced a growing demand for their services. An aging population in combination with heightened use of personalized medicine has led to an increase in both the number of samples that needs to be analyzed and the complexity of the examinations. In spite of this, the workforce resources has not increased correspondingly. To tackle both current and future demand, there is a need to optimize the workflow in the laboratory. Throughout the project presented in this master thesis, an artifact has been design and developed using the design science research methodology. The focus has been on examining the use of data visualization techniques and dashboards to better utilize the vast amount of data that exists about the workflow in the laboratory. A possible solution to visualize metrics from the pathology process to facilitate with progress management at the Department of Pathology is presented. As part of the design process, we have identified novel ways to visualize metrics to provide additional insight of the workflow process in realtime. The results from the evaluation of the artifact contributed to an improved design, as well as the discovery of potential benefits of using such an artifact in a real setting. Additionally, future work has been identified in order to further increase the potential the artifact can have for the Department of Pathology.