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Using Data to Action Change: How the ATLAS Country Dashboards can be a vital tool in improving the standard of care for intestinal failure in Europe

by Porter Novelli for Takeda EUCAN

Summary of work

ATLAS was formed by Takeda in 2016 as a response to a lack of awareness of intestinal failure (IF) and poor harmonisation of standards of care across Europe. Despite being a highly debilitating condition IF is largely unrecognised, meaning that IF is yet to receive the public attention, policy focus or research funding that other organ failures receive.
To address these inequalities, we begun by working with stakeholders across Europe to increase awareness of IF, improve the diagnosis rate, facilitate the sharing of clinical excellence across borders and alert the scientific community to inequalities in the provision of care. An extensive literature review of over 300 international and national publications uncovered the gaps in IF throughout Europe and a new data visualisation tool was born: The ATLAS Country Dashboards.
The Dashboards provide an opportunity for countries to reach out to their decision makers, asking for guidelines, centres of excellence, reimbursement of standard methods of care and have the potential to increase the quality of IF patients’ lives. They are a powerful knowledge sharing resource – transcending borders, cultures and languages – that countries can use to assess their situation, identify gaps, pinpoint areas for improvement, and compare with other countries.

To date, the program has successfully generated and leveraged data through newly established channels and partnerships with engaged stakeholders. The program has already successfully influenced clinical practice and policy at global, country and clinic levels via novel insights and targeted, patient-focused solutions. Adherence is gaining the attention it has long needed, and real-world outcomes will improve as a result.

Judges’ comments

There was a clear appetite for this project, as demonstrated by the results. This entry had beautifully laid out data, which was easy to access. We loved the effort they made to understand where the audience was disengaged and how to overcome it by bringing to life data in a meaningful way, together with clear benchmarking and evidenced outcomes.