The editor's word
At a time when we are surrounded by the everyday use of communication and information technologies very closely linked to the Internet, it is challenging to discern the accuracy, truthfulness and objectivity of the information presented and published. This book and its chapters aim to provide an overview of selected projects and activities across the academic and governmental domains focused on data processing and visualisation. It is crucial to recognise that, given the volume of data of varying quality that we now have at our disposal, we need to focus much more on understanding, identifying, and distributing correct information and inferences directly from the data. This is the main reason why this book was written. The individual case studies focus on examples of both good and bad practices, drawing on experiences from real-life projects. Data should always serve as a basis for decision-making processes and mechanisms, but only if they are correctly processed, understood, and, above all, interpreted. There are various ways to present results over descriptive statistics and data analysis, from summary tables to static graphs, to interactive web visualisations. It is only possible to say which type and presentation format is best with additional information (such as the target audience or primary purpose of use). The selected chapters in this book highlight the complete lifecycle of understanding, processing, visualising and validating data, so that all of the critical components of this process are remembered.
Every reader will likely ask for whom this book is intended, who is the target group, and who should and could be interested in this issue. The primary aim is to present the experience gained across real-world projects in medical education and health information comprehensively and transparently. The groups of readers for whom the book is intended undoubtedly include: representatives of middle and senior management of governmental and academic institutions involved in projects where data processing and presentation play a significant role; users dealing with open data, not only in the healthcare domain; enthusiasts who want to be inspired in their projects; and, last but not least, students of selected degree programs where this book will serve as one of the recommended study materials. We must remember the MEFANET educational network community, which brings together all Czech and Slovak medical and health sciences faculties, where the book is sure to be of use to management members, supervisors and teachers of selected courses, or even students. It is clear from this list that the total potential readership is quite broad and is not, nor should it be, limited by a direct focus on healthcare or medical education. The actual concept of individual chapters is certainly not a limiting factor in applying the basic principles to other domains of human interest and knowledge. Sharing experiences and recommending proven approaches to working with data are the underlying motivations of this book. Thus, it distinguishes between subjective and objective perceptions, feelings and impressions, and conclusions directly derived from data. This book highlights the importance of the difference between subjective opinion (the client’s point of view supported by impressions and feelings) and objective opinion (measurable and challenging – quantitative – data). Especially today, when it is tough to distinguish truth from half-truths and misinformation, it is necessary to focus on and highlight the role of valid and correctly processed data.
The Faculty of Medicine of Masaryk University in Brno, one of the founding members of the MEFANET educational network, was at the beginning of the activities related to the outputs of this book. Since 2007, this community has focused on building and strengthening the cooperation among Czech and Slovak medical and non-medical faculties in the development of teaching using modern information and communication technologies. Over time, this effort has grown to European and then global dimensions. Today, dozens of international projects, conferences and workshops are proof of this. This collaboration aims to create a network of horizontally connected teaching sites and to facilitate interaction between teams from different faculties in a sustainable way. This enables students and teachers to effectively share electronic teaching materials, innovative teaching methods and technological solutions. The Institute of Health Information and Statistics of the Czech Republic, directly connected to the Ministry of Health of the Czech Republic, is the second institution that has contributed significantly to the outputs of this book. The National Health Information System (NHIS) is a unified nationwide public administration information system that collects and processes data from the basic registers of public administration bodies, ministries and health service providers. Data from NHIS were used for selected chapters in this book, highlighting the importance of the correct release and publication of datasets in open data format.
My sincere thanks go especially to two exceptional persons from the Faculty of Medicine at Masaryk University, who gave me the opportunity to become interested and actively involved in the academic sphere, namely Ladislav Dušek and Daniel Schwarz. They allowed me to gain valuable experience from the beginning, provided me with background, patience and support for my ideas and visions, and above all, they have become my close friends for more than 15 years. Many thanks are also due to all my colleagues at the Faculty of Medicine of Masaryk University and the Institute of Health Information and Statistics, who have been involved in the proposal, design and implementation of the projects on which the individual case studies of this book are based. The active, close and intensive collaboration between the institutional management, the project office, the analytical division and the development team led to the creation of a number of valuable and innovative outputs, for which, among other things, countless open datasets were created. Last but not least, I would like to take this opportunity to thank my loved ones, family and close friends; without their support and tolerance, I would not have found the mental strength and time to write this book. This book is specially dedicated to the memory of Ing. Hana Komendová (+ March 2023).