The WHO Maternity Dashboard is undoubtedly a vast improvement from what was done prior to this intervention. The execution, however, could be improved greatly. According to the Alexander textbook, dashboards should be more visual, with “at a glance” views. This could have been achieved possibly by using line graphs of each area measured by month. This way, practitioners can easily see how their data is trending and quickly know if they are hitting target metrics in each area. Individual areas in need of improvement can also be listed out as a reminder for practitioners to follow a certain protocol that may lead to more favorable outcomes for their patients and their children.
I work in healthcare and we use similar graphs to measure our own outcomes. Each department has its own measures that they follow monthly, each on a separate dashboard with a line graph. Colored arrows adjacent to the graph indicate whether target is being met, similar to the color coding shown within the WHO dashboard. It makes it very simple to look at and to understand how each area of the hospital is performing in key areas.