Question

Discuss why it is important for a person working in health care to understand statistical concepts. Provide an example of how statistical data is used in your organization or specialty area today and what you are expected to do with this information as a practitioner.   

Answer 1

Medical Statistics is a sub discipline of Statistics and it can provide a way of organizing information. An understanding of statistics is essential if the numerous reports and documents issued within the healthcare industry are to be scrutinized and considered in a critical manner. There has been an increase in the development of research-based and evidence-based practice (EBP) in healthcare over the last two decades. Medical Statistics also known as Biostatistics and the understanding of statistics and its analysis can helps healthcare personnel to make sense of the research studies that underpin EBP and enables practitioners to undertake studies of their own. Health care practices not based on research and not assessed, not planned, and not evaluated to see if it makes a difference in patient care, leads to unsafe practices and patient harm (Scott &Mazhindu, 2014).

In the operating room, we use statistical data to evaluate patient care such as that related to patient positioning pressure injuries. Statistics are also used to develop quality measures or metrics related to surgical on-time starts, operating room turnover times, surgeon block utilization, case cancellations day of surgery, and patient through-put times. Other applications of statistics in the operating room are staffing plans, cost per case, materials management and resource allocation. This data is used for best practices in patient care, operating room efficiency, and value-based healthcare practices within the hospital.

Reference:

Scott, I. &Mazhindu, D. (2014).Statistics for Healthcare Professionals: An Introduction. Thousand Oaks, California: SAGE Publications, Ltd.

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