| Course | HA535 Data Analytics for Health Care Managers |
|---|---|
| Unit | Unit 4 |
| Paper type | Dashboard design |
| Length | About 850 words, 6 pages double-spaced |
| Format | APA 7 student paper |
| School | Purdue University Global |
| Program | Master of Health Administration (MHA) |
| Updated | October 2026 |
Free sample paper for HA535 Unit 4
Ten Minutes at 08:30: A Dashboard Design for a Composite Three-Hospital System's Daily Bed Huddle, Putting Occupancy Against a Threshold, Expected Discharges, Pending Admissions and Post-Acute Waits on One Screen and Explaining Every Choice
[Student Name]
Purdue University Global
HA535: Data Analytics for Health Care Managers
Unit 4 Dashboard Design
[Instructor Name]
[Date]
The system, the measures and every value are composite and bracketed; the wireframe is described in words for this page.
The Decision
The huddle decides whether any hospital needs to divert admissions, open surge beds or speed discharges. To decide, bed managers need four things: how full each hospital is against a threshold, how many beds will open today, how many patients are waiting to come in and how many patients are waiting to go out to post-acute care.
The Wireframe
Top band: three bullet graphs, one per hospital, each showing 07:00 occupancy against shaded bands with a marker at [85] percent. Flagship [94.8], suburban [86.5], rural [55.8]. Beside them: three counts in plain type for each hospital: discharges expected by 14:00, admissions pending from the emergency department and patients waiting for skilled nursing or rehabilitation beds. Middle band: small multiples, fourteen days of occupancy for each hospital on identical axes. Bottom: a narrow table listing only units above threshold. Footer: a definitions strip stating each measure's source system, refresh time and owner. Everything on the screen answers one of four questions the huddle must settle, and nothing is there because it was easy to pull.
Why Bullet Graphs
A bullet graph shows one value against a target and qualitative bands in a small space, without the wasted area and distortion of a gauge. Dashboard design guidance favors such compact, comparable displays over decorative dials (Few, 2013).
Why Small Multiples on the Same Axes
Fourteen days for each hospital on identical axes let managers compare trends at a glance; different scales would make a small rural change look as large as a flagship surge. Displays that repeat the same design for different subsets let the eye compare without relearning the chart (Tufte, 2001).
Why Color Only for Exceptions
Color is reserved for values above threshold. If every value is colored, nothing stands out. Using color sparingly directs attention to the units that need action.
Why Counts in Plain Type
Expected discharges, pending admissions and post-acute waits are small numbers that managers act on directly. A chart would add nothing; a plain number with a one-word label is faster to read.
Definitions and Sources
Occupancy: midnight census plus admissions minus discharges to 07:00, divided by staffed beds. Expected discharges: patients with a discharge order or a planned discharge date of today. Pending admissions: emergency department patients with an admission decision. Post-acute waits: patients with a placement referral not yet accepted. Each comes from the bed management system, refreshed at 07:00. Clear operational definitions keep the three hospitals counting the same thing (Provost & Murray, 2011).
How the Huddle Will Use It
The house supervisor opens the screen at 08:28. In the first two minutes the group looks at the top band: any hospital above the marker is discussed first. Next, the counts show whether expected discharges will cover pending admissions at each site. If the flagship is above threshold with more pending admissions than expected discharges, the group considers moving suitable patients to the suburban hospital, which has room. The table at the bottom tells unit managers where to push discharges. The meeting ends with three decisions recorded beside the screen.
Accessibility
Color is never the only signal: values above threshold also carry a bold marker and a symbol, so managers with color vision differences can read the screen. Text is large enough to read on a wall display across the room.
Maintaining the Dashboard
The bed management analyst owns the dashboard, reviews the definitions each quarter and checks a random sample of values against source systems monthly. Requests to add measures go through the patient flow committee, which keeps the screen focused on the huddle's decisions.
What Was Left Off
Length of stay, readmissions and patient experience matter, but they do not change today's bed decisions, so they belong on a monthly dashboard, not this one.
Testing the Design
The design was tested with [five] bed managers using last week's data. They found the over-threshold units in under [15] seconds and asked for the post-acute count to be split by skilled nursing and rehabilitation, which was added.
Alternatives Considered
A traffic-light grid of every unit was considered and rejected: it shows status but hides how far each unit is from the threshold and offers no trend. A long table of all measures was also rejected as too slow to read in ten minutes.
Limits
The dashboard depends on accurate discharge orders entered before 07:00; late orders will understate expected discharges, so unit managers are asked to enter planned discharges by 06:30.
Conclusion
A dashboard designed around one decision, drawn with compact and comparable displays and colored only for exceptions, lets three hospitals decide in ten minutes where the day's patients will go.
References
Few, S. (2013). Information dashboard design: Displaying data for at-a-glance monitoring (2nd ed.). Analytics Press.
Provost, L. P., & Murray, S. K. (2011). The health care data guide: Learning from data for improvement. Jossey-Bass.
Tufte, E. R. (2001). The visual display of quantitative information (2nd ed.). Graphics Press.
The Purdue Global HA535 Unit 4 instructions
Unit 4 in HA 535 usually asks students to design a dashboard for a specific health care audience and explain the design. Instructions typically call for identifying the users and the decision the dashboard supports, choosing measures and targets, sketching a layout or wireframe and justifying chart types, color and placement with reference to data visualization principles. Some prompts ask for a working dashboard in a tool; others accept a wireframe. Start with the meeting or moment the screen serves, since that sets how much it can hold. Limit measures to those that change a decision. Use a visualization text as a source, cited in APA format, and include a short section on what you chose not to show, because restraint is part of the design and graders often look for it.
Inside the HA535 Unit 4 example
The sample opens with the users and the moment: three bed managers, one huddle, ten minutes. A wireframe follows. Its top band holds three bullet graphs showing occupancy of 94.8, 86.5 and 55.8 percent against shaded bands and an 85 percent marker, with counts of discharges expected by 14:00, pending admissions and patients waiting for post-acute beds beside them. A margin note explains why bullet graphs replace gauges. The middle band uses small multiples on shared axes, and the bottom table lists only units over threshold. The rationale covers layout, a muted palette with one alert color, data refresh times and accessibility. A section on what was left out names measures that were requested but do not change the huddle's decisions. The design closes with a test plan for the first two weeks.
Where the points sit in the HA535 Unit 4 rubric
HA 535 dashboard rubrics commonly award points for identifying users and purpose, selecting relevant measures, sound chart choices, a clear layout, justification grounded in visualization principles, attention to data sources and presentation. Purpose points go to designs tied to a specific decision and time. Measure points reward a short list where each item changes an action. Chart points depend on matching chart to task, such as bullet graphs for comparison with a target. Layout points go to an order that follows how users will read. Justification points require citing principles, not taste. Designs that explain what was left out and why tend to receive the highest marks, since they show the designer understood the cost of clutter for a busy team.
Common HA535 Unit 4 mistakes, and how to avoid them
Dashboard assignments often lose points by trying to show everything, which hides the few numbers that matter. Others rely on gauges, pie charts or three-dimensional effects that are hard to read quickly. Some skip the rationale or justify choices by appearance alone. Start with the user, the decision and the time available. Choose a handful of measures that change that decision, pick the simplest chart for each and order them as the user would scan. Use color sparingly, mainly to signal a problem. Explain each choice with a principle and a source. Add a short list of measures you excluded and why. Finally, describe how you would test the design with real users and what you would change after the first weeks of use.
Get an HA535 Unit 4 example written to your instructions
Name the audience your Unit 4 dashboard serves and the decisions they make with it, then attach the data or measure list plus the prompt and rubric. Back in 24-48h: a wireframe with a written defense of every chart choice, free as your first request, laid out for the screen or printout your audience actually uses. The paper above is an original model document written by our desk, not a submitted student paper and not an official Purdue University Global document.
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HA535 Unit 4 questions, answered
Where can I find a free HA535 Unit 4 sample paper?
The complete HA535 Unit 4 dashboard design is here, with a wireframe for a composite system's bed huddle and a written rationale for each chart.
Why does the HA535 Unit 4 dashboard use bullet graphs?
They compare a value with a target and bands in little space, and they are easier to read accurately than gauges.
What are small multiples?
A row of small charts with identical axes, one per group, so patterns can be compared at a glance.
How many measures should a dashboard show?
Only those that change the decision the dashboard supports, often fewer than ten for a short meeting.
Does the HA535 Unit 4 design need a working tool?
Many prompts accept a wireframe with a rationale; check your own instructions.