A care quality dashboard for general practitioners managing patients with diabetes mellitus type 2: user-centered design and prototype evaluation

BACKGROUND: Diabetes mellitus type 2 (T2D) is a growing burden in Switzerland, where general practitioners (GPs) face increasing workload. To evaluate the quality of T2D care, the Swiss Society of Endocrinology and Diabetology (SGED) developed the SGED score to help GPs overview aggregated patient parameters at the practice level. However, the practical use of the SGED score is hampered by paper-based workflows and fragmented documentation. Currently, no dashboard exists to specifically visualize the SGED score, which overviews aggregated population parameters such as HbA1c or blood pressure. To address this gap, this study examined: (1) what functional requirements healthcare professionals consider essential for such a potential SGED dashboard, and (2) how do healthcare professionals evaluate the usability and clinical relevance of an iteratively developed dashboard prototype. METHODS: We employed an iterative, user-centered three-step approach involving 10 semi-structured interviews with 14 Swiss T2D healthcare professionals. Step 1 involved defining the project scope, identifying predefined functional requirements, and developing an initial SGED score dashboard prototype. Step 2 collected user-generated requirements and prioritized all requirements using the "Must Have", "Should Have", "Could Have", "Won't Have" (MoSCoW) method. In step 3, the high-fidelity Figma dashboard prototype was iteratively refined based on the requirements and interviewee feedback. RESULTS: Key functional requirements of the digital SGED score included reminder and alert functions for missing or overdue SGED-relevant assessments, color-coded critical values such as low nephropathy screening rates, demographic overviews, trend analyses of SGED indicators at practice level, benchmarking within practice networks, and exportable reports. Additional needs emerged for patient-level views, integrated checklists, inclusion of comorbidities, and personal or practice-specific goal-setting features. Iterative refinements based on user feedback improved clarity, usability, and visual appeal. Some participants highlighted the dashboard's intuitive design, clear and diverse visualizations, and benchmarking functionalities, describing it as both engaging and efficient. Others raised concerns about limited suitability for daily clinical workflows, potential integration challenges with existing systems, and the need for interactive, patient-centered features to support routine care. CONCLUSION: The proposed SGED score dashboard could enhance T2D care through features like population overviews, long-term visualizations, and anonymized benchmarking, meaning the ability to compare a practice's SGED performance with those of other practices. Successful clinical adoption will heavily depend on interoperability and seamless integration into existing workflows. The identified requirements provide a foundation for future digital T2D management systems.