Tim Duer
Analysis, Actionable Insights, Healthcare Insights
December 9, 2024
I’m often asked how my past career as a physical therapist has helped me in my current data analytics role or if it helps at all. The common bond I see is the need to ingest vast amounts of information, quickly identify the most important aspects, and ultimately provide useful insights and recommendations from these key nuggets.
While this may seem obvious and applicable to many careers, I consistently work with both teams to focus on avoiding the trap of acquiring mountains of metrics while overlooking the importance of quality outputs. In short, both physical therapists and data analysts can easily become "data rich" but "knowledge poor."
When discussing the importance of high-value insights with our analytics team, I often refer back to the structure I used for nearly two decades as a clinical physical therapist: the SOAP note. In healthcare, clinicians commonly use a SOAP note structure to document patient interactions. SOAP is an acronym for the four sections of the note: Subjective, Objective, Assessment, and Plan, providing a framework for organizing thoughts and defining next steps.
In healthcare, the Subjective portion involves gathering the patient’s story regarding their symptoms and concerns. The clinician’s role is to ask follow-up questions and identify key aspects that are most relevant. In data analytics, the subjective aspect involves understanding the business context—what problems are stakeholders experiencing? What are the goals?
The Objective section of a health visit consists of quantitative tests, measures, and observations. New clinicians often fall into the trap of collecting excessive measurements and employing every test at his or her disposal, but often at the risk of losing sight of their purpose. While these objective measures are important, quality and relevance should guide clinical testing. In modern data analytics, there certainly is no shortage of available data; however, it’s crucial to focus on relevant metrics rather than simply compiling overwhelming amounts of information.
The clinical Assessment is where a strong provider truly shines, providing the necessary insights that chart a path forward. It’s not enough to simply report the measures; a solid assessment requires connecting findings from the Objective to the challenges outlined in the Subjective. This critical analysis can be challenging, but it’s the most valuable part of the process. Without a thorough assessment, recommendations can fall flat. This is no different in data analysis – the assessment is where true analytics shines. This involves synthesizing data and context to draw meaningful insights. It’s not an easy task, but an important one.
Finally, the Plan outlines actionable steps based on the assessment. In healthcare this may be a treatment, an additional referral or a surgery. In analytics, it translates to prescriptive recommendations that move from analysis to action. In both fields, this plan must align with identified goals and address insights derived from previous findings. An effective plan builds from the assessment rather than being a generic, boilerplate recommendation.
As a PT, I recognized that no patient ever came to my office looking for me to provide them with Range of Motion measurements or tell them whether or not they had a positive Empty Can Test, which identifies a likely rotator cuff tear (I still remember some clinical nuggets). Instead, they came for help, a potential diagnosis and a recommended plan of care.
In the same way, no organization aims to merely collect data—they seek insight into their challenges and actionable plans for improvement. The insights gained during data analytics work are essential for ensuring the best recommendations are made, and this should be the most exciting part of data work.
The tendency toward being “data rich but knowledge poor” can affect analytics departments and clinicians alike, and often go unrecognized. We gather mountains of objective data, some of which is helpful and some not. The focus shifts towards the volume of data compiled rather than the valuable insights that can be generated when a skilled analyst or clinician uses the data to connect the dots to better assess a challenge.
Analysis is the valuable asset—far more so than the data itself.
So, my common feedback hasn’t changed all that much when working in PT or data analytics … Are you merely collecting data, or are you transforming it into actionable insights? Remember which is truly important.
Causeway Solutions is a leading provider of Acquisition Analytics and strategic data insights supporting successful marketing plans, business decisions, and political campaigns. Specializing in predictive and prescriptive modeling and customized audience targeting strategies, Causeway Solutions has developed billions and billions of predictions and hundreds of thousands of unique consumer, constituent, patient and voter-based audiences. Email [email protected] to learn more.
Tim Duer is Vice President of Data Analytics & Strategy at Causeway Solutions, a leading provider of Acquisition Analytics and innovative data services. Tim leads market research, audience analytics, AI and data management for healthcare clients. As a former physical therapist and operations director of ambulatory practice at a large, multi-hospital health system, Tim uses his balanced background of hands-on clinical care and business understanding to develop novel approaches to the rapidly evolving healthcare marketplace. Causeway Solutions empowers clients to make smart, timely, data-driven decisions through real-time consumer insights to better reach target audiences.
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