HLT 362 Application of Statistics in Health Care SOLUTION

Statistical application and the interpretation of data is important in health care. Review the statistical concepts covered in this topic. In a 750-1,000 word paper, discuss the significance of statistical application in health care. Include the following:

Introduction

Statistics refers to the data collection, organization, analysis, interpretation, and presentation. Health statistics comprises the numeric information about various aspects of health such as trends in illnesses, cure rates, hospital revenue, medicine, mortality, and hospital malpractices, among others (Helbig et al. 2018). Health Statistics can be applied in healthcare to enhance planning, operation, and decision-making effectiveness. Through effective planning, operation, and decision-making, healthcare leadership, promotes the population’s health and safety (Aggarwal, R. 2018). The following is a discussion on the application of statistics in healthcare, mainly focusing on its significance to quality, safety, health promotion, and leadership. In addition, the write-up discusses how health statistical data can be obtained and used in routine operations and decision-making.

Application of Statistics in Health Care

Health statistics focus on the correlations between variables in healthcare. Its utility has evolved over the years, giving reliable information for routine operations, planning, and decision-making. Accord

HLT 362 Application of Statistics in Health Care SOLUTION

ing to Helbig et al. (2018), Florence Nightingale used applied statistics to remedy risky neglect of sanitary precautions in the army. She collected data on the number of injured soldiers, infections, poor nutrition, and respiration to help her improve the conditions. In the 18^th century, medical practitioners focused on developing mathematical progressions and theories of probability. The use of medical statistics continued to develop, and most governments developed civil registration for the birth and demise of their citizens. Currently, health statistics necessity has continued to increase with the technological advancement making it more reliable in enhancing quality initiatives, safety through precautionary measures, health promotion, and improved decision-making in healthcare leadership (Helbig et al. 2018).

Although my specialty is cardiac nursing, I often care for patients who are either being admitted for a stroke, or they have a past medical history of a stroke. As you mentioned, time is tissue and every minute counts in these scenarios. Once brain tissue has been without oxygen for too long, there is no reversing that. My facility is stroke certified and we have an average door to CT table time of 10 minutes with our fastest time being 4 minutes. This is something we pride ourselves on since time is so important. According to the Centers for Disease Control, one in four stroke survivors have another stroke within five years (2022). This is why stroke rehabilitation is also of the utmost importance to begin as soon as possible, since some of the lasting effects can be minimized with the proper therapy.

Quality

Health statistics help healthcare facilities offer quality and reliable patient care for patients by providing up-to-date information regarding diseases and their possible preventive and curative measures. Using statistics, the healthcare facilities can identify the trends in the population’s health and aid in reliable predictions necessary for the population’s health improvement. Electronic Medical Records (EMR) aid in collecting an enormous volume of data on biostatistics, mortality rate, and diagnosis results, among others (Helbig et al., 2018). The data is analyzed and aid in quality outcomes that aid in improving planning and operational procedures in patient care. For instance, healthcare practitioners can identify evidence-based medicine, which is helpful in the provision of quality care for patients through health statistics. On the same note, health statistics help measure healthcare quality through the patient’s healthcare outcomes. Healthcare quality measuring is essential in improving healthcare quality by identifying faults and areas that need improvement (Allen-Duck et al., 2017).

Safety

Patient safety is the priority of every healthcare practitioner. According to WHO (2019), patient safety is a discipline that emerged due to the progressing complexity in health care facilities and the raising in patient harm. This discipline aims to prevent and reduce risks, harm, and mistakes during patient care in healthcare facilities. The healthcare discipline is mainly based on improving from errors previously recorded and adverse events in patient care. Quality health care is supposed to be effective in health restoration, safe, and people centered. To ensure patient safety, patient care must be timely, standardized, effective, and integrated (Lawati et al., 2018). Health statistics help review and develop patient safety strategies with elaborate policies, data-driven safety improvements, qualified healthcare practitioners, and effective leadership.

Health Promotion

Health promotion is very important in any given population as it reduces the health care burden in the healthcare facilities. Health and well-being are affected by levels of hygiene and sanitation, nutrition, socio-economic conditions, culture, and environmental changes, among other factors (Ocaña-Riola, R. 2016). Health statistics can address health issues and concerns effectively by identifying the concern groups in the demographics and empowering them to take action to improve their health concerns. Secondly, public health can be promoted by encouraging health care leadership in public health that would develop healthy public policies and guide the public through healthy programs engineered to improve their health concerns (Ocaña-Riola, R. 2016). Therefore, the health statistics are used by the health care providers to match the various public health concerns with the services offered by the healthcare system, such as immunization, public health awareness programs, disease management, and preventive measure against infectious diseases.

Leadership

Health statistics are essential in healthcare leadership as they influence health planning, operation, and decision-making. Leadership in health care has the mandate of giving directions regarding various aspects of health care, such as budgetary allocations, infectious diseases awareness, and precautionary measures (Hargett et al., 2017). Through descriptive statistics, the healthcare leaders can determine the monetary implications of health care service delivery and the resources required to accord the essential services to the public. On the same note, statistics enable healthcare leaders to determine the effectiveness of healthcare initiatives to base their improvement or reconsideration. Lastly, health statistics guide health care leaders in making facts-based decisions in medical planning, operations, and resources requirement (Hargett et al., 2017).

Utilization of Health Care Statistical Knowledge in Health Care Organization

Health statistics are essential in the efforts toward the establishment of efficiency and effectiveness in healthcare operations. As a nurse, I use health statistics in my routine operation to monitor and track the trends in infectious diseases. In my organization, we track and record reported cases of contagious illness in the hospital. These data help us track any potential outbreak of infectious diseases within the community and lay down measures to curb the outbreak and prevent the spread of infection. In my last encounter, I realized an increasing number of malaria cases reported in the health center over two months. Through this statistic and the healthcare facility management, we initiated an awareness program for malaria outbreaks and provided preventive gear to the vulnerable people in the community.

Conclusion

Conclusively, statistics remains to be one of the essential segments of the healthcare system. Hospital and medical facilities use statistics through the implementation of EMR systems that enhances data collection on biostatistics, mortality rate, and diagnosis results, among others. These data are analyzed to give fact-based information that the health care facilities use in their planning, operations, and decision-making. Furthermore, health statistics foster quality of health care services, patients’ safety, health promotion, and effective leadership of the healthcare facilities.  Therefore, health statistics are widely used in most operations in healthcare facilities. It enhances the tracking and monitoring of a healthcare concern enabling the development and implementation of viable decisions to counter the health concerns.

References

Aggarwal, R. (2018). Statistical literacy for healthcare professionals: Why is it important?. Annals Of Cardiac Anaesthesia, 21(4), 349. https://doi.org/10.4103/aca.aca_177_18

Allen-Duck, A., Robinson, J., & Stewart, M. (2017). Healthcare Quality: A Concept Analysis. Nursing Forum, 52(4), 377-386. https://doi.org/10.1111/nuf.12207

Helbig, J., Ambrose, J., & Torres, E. (2018). Applied Statistics for Health Care. Lc.gcumedia.com. Retrieved 24 June 2022, from https://lc.gcumedia.com/hlt362v/applied-statistics-for-health-care/v1.1/.

Hargett, C., Doty, J., Hauck, J., Webb, A., Cook, S., & Tsipis, N. et al. (2017). Developing a model for effective leadership in healthcare: a concept mapping approach. Journal Of Healthcare Leadership, Volume 9, 69-78. https://doi.org/10.2147/jhl.s141664

Lawati, M., Dennis, S., Short, S., & Abdulhadi, N. (2018). Patient safety and safety culture in primary health care: a systematic review. BMC Family Practice, 19(1). https://doi.org/10.1186/s12875-018-0793-7

Ocaña-Riola, R. (2016). The Use of Statistics in Health Sciences: Situation Analysis and Perspective. Statistics In Biosciences, 8(2), 204-219. https://doi.org/10.1007/s12561-015-9138-4

Patient Safety. WHO (2019). Retrieved 24 June 2022, from https://www.who.int/news-room/fact-sheets/detail/patient-safety.

1. Describe the application of statistics in health care. Specifically discuss its significance to quality, safety, health promotion, and leadership.
2. Consider your organization or specialty area and how you utilize statistical knowledge. Discuss how you obtain statistical data, how statistical knowledge is used in day-to-day operations and how you apply it or use it in decision making.

Three peer-reviewed, scholarly or professional references are required.

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