Probability without Equations: Concepts for Clinicians

An award-winning teacher gives a non-technical explanation of the probability and statistics needed by physicians to interpret laboratory results.

Although few physicians, nurses, dentists, and other health professionals perform laboratory tests themselves, they all need to be able to interpret the results as well as understand findings reported in the medical literature. A general understanding of probability and statistics is essential for those needing to make daily decisions about the significance of research data, drug interaction precautions, or a patient's positive laboratory test for a rare disease.

Written with these needs in mind, Probability without Equations offers a thorough explanation of the subject without overwhelming the reader with equations and footnotes. Award-winning teacher Bart Holland presents a nontechnical treatment of intuitive concepts and presents numerous examples from medical research and practice. In plain language, this book explains the topics that clinicians need to understand:

• Analysis of variance

• "P-values" and the "t-test"

• Hazard models

• Regression and correlations

• Alpha and beta errors

"The Nobel prize-winning physicist Ernest Rutherford was fond of saying that if you need statistics to analyze the results of an experiment, you don't have a very good experiment. In a way he was right. However, a recurrent problem in medicine is that in a certain sense you commonly don't have a good experiment—but not because medical research scientists are generally incompetent! The nature of the data they work with is simply not as predictable as the data in some other fields, so the predictive nature of findings in medical science is generally rather imperfect."—from the introduction

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Probability without Equations: Concepts for Clinicians

An award-winning teacher gives a non-technical explanation of the probability and statistics needed by physicians to interpret laboratory results.

Although few physicians, nurses, dentists, and other health professionals perform laboratory tests themselves, they all need to be able to interpret the results as well as understand findings reported in the medical literature. A general understanding of probability and statistics is essential for those needing to make daily decisions about the significance of research data, drug interaction precautions, or a patient's positive laboratory test for a rare disease.

Written with these needs in mind, Probability without Equations offers a thorough explanation of the subject without overwhelming the reader with equations and footnotes. Award-winning teacher Bart Holland presents a nontechnical treatment of intuitive concepts and presents numerous examples from medical research and practice. In plain language, this book explains the topics that clinicians need to understand:

• Analysis of variance

• "P-values" and the "t-test"

• Hazard models

• Regression and correlations

• Alpha and beta errors

"The Nobel prize-winning physicist Ernest Rutherford was fond of saying that if you need statistics to analyze the results of an experiment, you don't have a very good experiment. In a way he was right. However, a recurrent problem in medicine is that in a certain sense you commonly don't have a good experiment—but not because medical research scientists are generally incompetent! The nature of the data they work with is simply not as predictable as the data in some other fields, so the predictive nature of findings in medical science is generally rather imperfect."—from the introduction

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Probability without Equations: Concepts for Clinicians

Probability without Equations: Concepts for Clinicians

by Bart K. Holland
Probability without Equations: Concepts for Clinicians

Probability without Equations: Concepts for Clinicians

by Bart K. Holland

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Overview

An award-winning teacher gives a non-technical explanation of the probability and statistics needed by physicians to interpret laboratory results.

Although few physicians, nurses, dentists, and other health professionals perform laboratory tests themselves, they all need to be able to interpret the results as well as understand findings reported in the medical literature. A general understanding of probability and statistics is essential for those needing to make daily decisions about the significance of research data, drug interaction precautions, or a patient's positive laboratory test for a rare disease.

Written with these needs in mind, Probability without Equations offers a thorough explanation of the subject without overwhelming the reader with equations and footnotes. Award-winning teacher Bart Holland presents a nontechnical treatment of intuitive concepts and presents numerous examples from medical research and practice. In plain language, this book explains the topics that clinicians need to understand:

• Analysis of variance

• "P-values" and the "t-test"

• Hazard models

• Regression and correlations

• Alpha and beta errors

"The Nobel prize-winning physicist Ernest Rutherford was fond of saying that if you need statistics to analyze the results of an experiment, you don't have a very good experiment. In a way he was right. However, a recurrent problem in medicine is that in a certain sense you commonly don't have a good experiment—but not because medical research scientists are generally incompetent! The nature of the data they work with is simply not as predictable as the data in some other fields, so the predictive nature of findings in medical science is generally rather imperfect."—from the introduction


Product Details

ISBN-13: 9781421404134
Publisher: Johns Hopkins University Press
Publication date: 12/10/1997
Sold by: Barnes & Noble
Format: eBook
Pages: 128
File size: 2 MB
Age Range: 18 Years

About the Author

Bart K. Holland is a consultant in probability and statistics for medical applications and has been involved with the design and analysis of many clinical trials. He has also taught probability, biostatistics, and epidemiology for more than ten years at the New Jersey Medical School, where he is an associate professor in the Department of Preventive Medicine and Community Health. His lectures have won him the medical school's award for outstanding teaching.

Table of Contents

Acknowledgments
Introduction: Probability, Uncertainty, and Medical Knowledge
Chapter 1. The Meaning of "Tests of Significance"
Chapter 2. Alphabet Soup: t, Z, F, r, and Other Statistics Found in the Medical Literature
Chapter 3. Your Patient Tests Positive: Is Disease Present?
Chapter 4. Epidemiological Study Designs
Chapter 5. Clinical Trials
Additional Reading
Index

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From the Publisher

A good primer for the initiated or those requiring a refresher . . . Highly recommended for those requiring a brief, general overview of the subject.
—Doody.com

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