In the fast-paced field of healthcare, timely and precise data can make all the difference to clinical, research, and business outcomes. The Melanoma Dashboard is a comprehensive, real-time data tool designed to help the Clinic for Dermatology at the University Hospital Essen (UHE) track, analyze, and visualize critical information of their melanoma patients. Developed by Prof. Dr. med. Felix Nensa and Katarzyna Borys at the UHE Institute for AI in Medicine, the Melanoma Dashboard enables clinicians to access, filter, and analyze patient data seamlessly, supporting research and operational planning.
How the Dashboard Supports Clinical, Operational, and Research Activities
Leveraging Firemetrics groundbreaking technology to facilitate the real-time analysis of FHIR data, the dashboard integrates data from a multitude of sources, such as demographic details, diagnostic codes, histological data, genetic markers, surgical procedures, and therapy histories, in one user-friendly interface. The dashboard allows users to quickly filter through patient data based on specific criteria, thereby equipping Prof. Dr. med. Elizabeth Livingstone and her colleagues at the Clinic for Dermatology to analyze data of thousands of patients in real time.
“Previously, when we searched for patient information based on certain characteristics, we could only extract the information in a very complex and sometimes incomplete way,” said Prof. Livingstone. “We need to be able to run queries to answer certain questions, for example for the skin cancer center accreditation process or to carry out economic planning: how many patients with specific conditions did we treat last year? How many surgeries did we perform last year, and how many are expected next year? Are we experiencing a drop or increase in infusion numbers?”
In addition to its operational benefits, the Melanoma Dashboard is a powerful asset for research. By quickly filtering for patients with certain attributes—such as specific genetic mutations—the department can identify cohorts for studies, analyze treatment efficacy, and generate new insights in dermato-oncology research. "Before the dashboard, it was nearly impossible to query combined characteristics,” said Prof. Livingstone. “We couldn’t do it ourselves and had to ask someone from the tumor documentation team or from controlling. However, the system previously used was unable to cope with very complex correlations, and it was not uncommon to have to analyze the data manually in Excel spreadsheets. Now we can carry out these queries in a matter of seconds and with real-time data, without much effort.”
Developing the Dashboard with Firemetrics: A Game-Changer for Simplicity and Speed
Behind the dashboard’s success lies the robust technology of Firemetrics, which enabled Prof. Dr. med. Felix Nensa and Katarzyna Borys to build the Melanoma Dashboard with ease and efficiency. Firemetrics offers a suite of business intelligence and business analytics tools specifically tailored for healthcare data. Built on a relational data model, it allows users to bypass traditional FHIR API limitations, delivering data queries that are significantly faster and more resource efficient.
Firemetrics’ unique approach to FHIR data was crucial for developing the Melanoma Dashboard. “Firemetrics enables the direct extraction and processing of FHIR data via SQL, bypassing the otherwise complex route through a RESTful API,” Borys explained. “Direct database access saves many intermediate steps and significantly accelerates the entire development process.” This simplified method is not only faster but also reduces the risk of data inconsistencies, which are common when handling complex healthcare data structures.
With Firemetrics, the dashboard can access and organize massive amounts of patient data with minimal processing time. For instance, it requires only a single client-server round trip and minimal data transfer to execute complex queries that would otherwise involve thousands of server interactions and hours of processing. This efficiency is vital for a clinical environment where delays can impact patient care.
As Borys describes, “One of the biggest technical challenges in FHIR data is ensuring that all connections between resources are mapped accurately and efficiently. Traditionally, this requires extensive post-processing of query results. Firemetrics allows us to combine FHIR and SQL queries seamlessly, so there’s no need for post-processing.” The system also supports real-time data visualization through tools like Grafana, allowing the dermatology team to view up-to-the-second patient data on an interactive interface.
Firemetrics: Enabling Transformative Healthcare Data Solutions
Firemetrics is setting a new standard for business intelligence and analytics in healthcare. As healthcare institutions continue to adopt data-driven methods to improve patient outcomes and long-term sustainability, tools like Firemetrics - designed to handle the unique data requirements of healthcare environments - are poised to play a central role. By enabling real-time data analysis across multiple hospital IT-, and data-systems, efficient resource management, and high-performance data processing, Firemetrics is helping hospitals to operate more effectively, ensure data accuracy, and ultimately enhance patient care.
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