Analytics is often divided into three subcomponents–descriptive analytics, predictive analytics, and prescriptive analytics. Descriptive analytics encompasses using the analytic techniques previously discussed to better describe or summarize the process under study. Understanding how care is delivered is one process that stands to benefit from descriptive analytics.
How can we use descriptive analytics to better understand healthcare delivery? The following is one example of a visualization of a toddler's emergency department (ED) care record when they presented complaining of an asthma exacerbation (Basole et al., 2015). It uses structured clinical data commonly found in EMR systems to summarize ...
