Topic 1 DQ 1
Discuss the historical application of statistics in the field of health care. Describe an example, other than Florence Nightingale’s contributions, where statistical application has greatly influenced or changed health care operations or practice.
Submitted on:
Statistics have been in used in the field of healthcare for a very long-time. They have been used in planning and improving healthcare activities as well as allocating resources to be used. Statistics were also used in healthcare to analyze research data, laboratory results, outcomes of treatment and the epidemiology of some condition (Health statistics: Past, present, and future – Toward a health statistics system for the 21st century – NCBI bookshelf, n.d.). With the statistical data, there has been significant improvement in the quality of care delivered and safety of patients since previous data inform the current practice on what to do and what to avoid. Use of statistics has been applied in preventing and managing infections in care facilities. Statistical methods such as rates, ratios and proportions have been used to present data concerning infections in care
facilities hence informing the stakeholders on the appropriate methods of
minimizing the cases (Basic statistics for infection Preventionists, 2019).
References:
Health statistics: Past, present, and future – Toward a health
statistics system for the 21st century – NCBI bookshelf. (n.d.). National
Center for Biotechnology
Information. https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/books/NBK223602/
Basic statistics for infection Preventionists. (2019, February
15). APIC. https://apic.org/course/basic-statistics-for-infection-preventionists/
Hello Class,
Thank you for your posts and for highlighting the relationship between statistics and healthcare. The healthcare industry is developing vastly and quickly. Today, it features modern technologies, tools, and equipment to collect as much information about patients as possible, with “big data” appearing as the new trend in the industry. The outcome of the statistical analysis helps healthcare policy makers and providers to improve the quality of care.
Below is a link to a good article summarizing the history of the need for statistics in healthcare.
https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/books/NBK223602/
An example of the application of statistics in the field of healthcare can be seen in the statistics obtained and studied during the 1918 Influenza Pandemic. This pandemic is known to have killed approximately 50 million worldwide. The virus spread through the U.S. quickly and healthcare statistics were used to determine variations in weekly mortality rates across 438 cities. The statistical data showed that air pollution increased mortality rates during the pandemic. It also showed that cities with coal-fired-generators further increased mortality. (Clay et al., 2019)
In the State of California, the 1918-1920 Influenza Pandemic was studied and showed that the first of four waves of the virus was transmitted by the U.S. Navy and travel by sea. The data collected during this pandemic was used to help combat the Covid-19 pandemic. (North, 2020)
References:
Clay, K., Lewis, J., & Severnini, E. (2019). What explains cross-city variation in mortality during the 1918 influenza pandemic? Evidence from 438 U.S. cities. Economics & Human Biology, 35, 42–50. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.ehb.2019.03.010
North, D. M. T. (2020). California and the 1918–1920 Influenza Pandemic. California History, 97(3), 3–36. https://doi.org/10.1525/ch.2020.97.3.3
I agree Kristine, since the 1918 influenza pandemic, advances in statistics are still taking place and practices in the health profession are largely based on scientific data that provides reliable patient care. Nurses, on the other hand, need a basic understanding of statistics to be able to translate, grasp, and interpret applicable literature in the healthcare field. Healthcare leaders must adapt to recent developments, meet nursing challenges, and understand emerging technologies that can enhance patient care. Student nurses must continue to learn well after they begin practicing because new information aimed at improving patient care is constantly being developed.
Reference:
Sheingold, B. H., Hahn, J. A. (2014). The history of healthcare quality: The first 100 years 1860-1960. International Journal of Africa Nursing Sciences. Vol. 1.Pages 18 – 22. : https://doi.org/10.1016/j.ijans.2014.05.002
Newly graduated nurses need a basic understanding of statistics to be able to translate, grasp and interpret applicable literature in the healthcare field. Nurses must not only rely on providing patient care based on assessments, labs, and vital signs input into an electronic health record such as Epic to make patient care decisions. The application of basic statistics along with learned experience can improve care and outcomes in the long term.
However, reliance on computer algorithms and statistical knowledge can only go so far. I frequently see new nursing graduates complete nursing tasks instead of being confident in applying nursing knowledge. We must all be careful and continue to learn to broaden our foundations which can be combined with basic statistics to analyze outcomes while seeing trends in healthcare. (Kwon et al., 2019)
Reference:
Kwon, J. Y., Karim, M. E., Topaz, M., & Currie, L. M. (2019). Nurses “Seeing Forest for the Trees” in the Age of Machine Learning. CIN: Computers, Informatics, Nursing, 37(4), 203–212. https://doi.org/10.1097/cin.0000000000000508
History of Statistics
Statistics is not a newly developed concept when it comes to looking for answers. In fact, it has been around for hundreds of years. “The roots of nursing practice are based on the use and statistical analysis of patient data” (Ambrose et al., 2022). Health statistics provide data to assist in the allocation of public as well as private funds. Statistics also enable the understanding of population characteristics, for example, disease mortality rates, morbidity or prevalence, and even quantification of health disparities. Previous scholars such as Florence Nightingale have impacted the health industry through the use of statistics to demonstrate needed healthcare initiatives.
Example of Statistical Application in Healthcare
Because of how complex the human body, and mind are, and the ways in which all of these aspects interact with their surroundings, statisticians and nursing researchers need to work together on a continuous basis. Sir Edwin Chadwick (1800-1890) had written a report in 2842 on the sanitary conditions among the laboring population in Great Britain. “Edwin demonstrated the existence of a mass of preventable illnesses and premature death in the community caused, he argued, by unsanitary physical circumstances” (Green et al., 2018). The painstaking documentation of statistical evidence written in his report about the social and spatial inequalities in health and unsanitary conditions is one of the earliest (1824) examples of providing evidence-based health advice to the public. His findings provided the foundation for advances made later on by figures such as William Farr (Green et al., 2018).
References
Ambrose, J., Helbig, J., Ryan, C., & Torres, E. (2022). Applied Statistics for Healthcare (Second Edition ed.). Grand Canyon University. https://bibliu.com/app/#/view/books/1000000000581/epub/Chapter1.html#page_8
Green, M. A., Dorling, D., & Mitchell, R. (2018, January). Updating Edwin Chadwick’s seminal work on geographical inequalities by occupation. National Library of Medicine, 59-62. 10.1016/j.socscimed.2017.11.055
diverse businesses, especially healthcare. An extensive amount of data has unfolded new gaps in fitness care. The immense facts in healthcare have the capability to improve healthcare to a higher level. Significant records can correctly lessen healthcare problems such as the selection of the appropriate remedy, and solution for healthcare, and enhancing the healthcare machine. There are six defining attributes in extensive data, namely, extent, range, speed, veracity, variability, complexity, and value. Massive information represents an expansion of possibilities that could enhance the performance of healthcare. The extensive data in healthcare should help in the advanced use of huge data analytics to gain valuable know-how. This powerful information analytics is used to get valuable facts from all types of sources in healthcare that may be used to take advantage of the data in order to make a better choice in healthcare. Massive information analytics can enhance health care by discovering institutions and expertise styles and trends in scientific facts. Cardiovascular disorder datasets are massive data in healthcare, and they are used as part of facilitating the system of documenting scientific facts that must be analyzed to offer powerful answers to troubles in fitness care. This paper provides valuable statistics by using massive information analytics from clinical statistics of cardiovascular disease to provide convincing answers for the troubles in healthcare and also to indicate how huge information is essential for healthcare. with statistics participation, we can manage the healthcare base and balance.
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