Probability without Equations: Concepts for Clinicians

Author by : Bart K. Holland
Languange Used : en
Release Date : 1998
Publisher by : JHU Press

ISBN :

Description : 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...

Author by : Rudolf Zalter
Languange Used : en
Release Date : 2013-08-21
Publisher by : Xlibris Corporation

ISBN :

Description : This book addresses the decision making process under uncertainty. The process commonly encountered in all fields of human endeavor is called the diagnostic process in this monograph. The thrust of this book is to help the struggling student, of all ages, in all fields, to cross the threshold from rote to comprehension, thus bridging an intuitive gap left in many a reader’s mind regarding the significance and clinical implication of the accompanying probability data. The text is, in essence, a verbal and graphic portrait of the basic ideas and symbolic structure of probability and statistical inference with particular stress on the Bayesian version. It aims to expound in words, simile, and diagrams the inherent connections obtained between a given event and its sample space or between a given random sample and a hypothesized population. In this sense, no formula is left naked to be absorbed on its face value without the support of a graphic cover. The final result is a firm grasp of the simple concepts that make the infrastructure (not the superstructure) of the subject. Nonetheless, this is not another book on statistics. It certainly is not a textbook geared for the classroom, it contains no problem to solve other than those structured and graphed examples needed to clarify and illustrate the thrust of the point under consideration. The book deals exclusively with the two topics that I tend to believe are the core thesis of statistics, namely, probability and its counterpoint, inference, supported by the necessary exposition of sets. Thus, the book does not include the mandatory and important chapters on analysis of variance, regression, and correlation....

Author by : MD, Milos Jenicek
Languange Used : en
Release Date : 2012-08-08
Publisher by : CRC Press

ISBN :

Description : Mastery of quality health care and patient safety begins as soon as we open the hospital doors for the first time and start acquiring practical experience. The acquisition of such experience includes much more than the development of sensorimotor skills and basic knowledge of the sciences. It relies on effective reasoning, decision making, and comm...

Author by : Milos Jenicek
Languange Used : en
Release Date : 2018-08-06
Publisher by : CRC Press

ISBN :

Description : Mastery of quality health care and patient safety begins as soon as we open the hospital doors for the first time and start acquiring practical experience. The acquisition of such experience includes much more than the development of sensorimotor skills and basic knowledge of sciences. It relies on effective reason, decision making, and communication shared by all health professionals, including physicians, nurses, dentists, pharmacists, and administrators. How to Think in Medicine, Reasoning, Decision Making, and Communications in Health Sciences is about these essential skills. It describes how physicians and health professionals reason, make decision, and practice medicine. Covering the basic considerations related to clinical and caregiver reasoning, it lays out a roadmap to help those new to health care as well as seasoned veterans overcome the complexities of working for the well-being of those who trust us with their physical and mental health. This book provides a step-by-step breakdown of the reasoning process for clinical work and clinical care. It examines both the general and medical ways of thinking, reasoning, argumentation, fact finding, and using evidence. It explores the principles of formal logic as applied to clinical problems and the use of evidence in logical reasoning. In addition to outline the fundamentals of decision making, it integrates coverage of clinical reasoning risk assessment, diagnosis, treatment, and prognosis in evidence-based medicine. Presented in four sections, this book discusses the history and position of the problem and the challenge of medical thinking; provides the philosophy interfacing topics of interest for health sciences professionals including the probabilities, uncertainties, risks, and other quantifications in health by steps of clinical work; decision making in clinical and community health care, research, and practice; Communication in clinical and community care including how to write medical articles, clinical case studies and case reporting, and oral and written communication in clinical and community practice and care....

Author by : Milos Jenicek
Languange Used : en
Release Date : 2019-09-19
Publisher by : CRC Press

ISBN :

Description : This comprehensive text focuses on reasoning, critical thinking and pragmatic decision making in medicine. Based on the author’s extensive experience and filled with definitions, formulae, flowcharts and checklists, this fully revised second edition continues to provide invaluable guidance to the crucial role that clinical epidemiology plays in the expanding field of evidence-based medicine. Key Features: • Considers evidence-based medicine as a universal initiative common to all health sciences and professions, and all specialties within those disciplines • Demonstrates how effective practice is reliant on proper foundations, such as clinical and fundamental epidemiology, and biostatistics • Introduces the reader to basic epidemiological methods, meta-analysis and decision analysis • Shows that structured, modern, argumentative reasoning is required to build the best possible evidence and use it in practice and research • Outlines how to make the most appropriate decisions in clinical care, disease prevention and health promotion Presenting a range of topics seldom seen in a single resource, the innovative blend of informal logic and structured evidence-based reasoning makes this book invaluable for anyone seeking broad, in-depth and readable coverage of this complex and sometimes controversial field....

Author by : Georges Charpak
Languange Used : en
Release Date : 2004-04-29
Publisher by : JHU Press

ISBN :

Description : During the most scientifically advanced period in human history, belief in the paranormal and the supernatural is alarmingly common. Nobel Prize winner Georges Charpak and physics professor Henri Broch team up to show you the tricks of the trade and sleight of hand that keep astrologers, TV psychics, and spoon benders in business. Using only the simplest of science, the authors explore the effectiveness of horoscopes--the blander the better--and why, with a television audience in the millions, any strange, unlikely prediction is almost certain to come true. Not merely an exposé of magic tricks, this book demonstrates how pseudoscientists use science, statistics, and psychology to bamboozle an audience--sometimes for fun, sometimes for profit. Entertaining and enlightening, Debunked! is the antidote, vigorously asserting the virtues of doubt, skepticism, curiosity, and scientific knowledge.--From publisher description....

Author by : Jon L. Gibson
Languange Used : en
Release Date : 2004-05-11
Publisher by : University of Alabama Press

ISBN :

Description : By focusing on the first instances of mound building, pottery making, fancy polished stone and bone, as well as specialized chipped stone, artifacts, and their widespread exchange, this book explores the sources of power and organization among Archaic societies....