Surname 5
Student’s Name
Professor’s Name
Institution
Course
Date
Statistics in the Medical Feld
I have always been interested in science, and the anatomy of the human body has always fascinated me. I have also seen the work of doctors in saving lives of the most important people in my life, making me want to do the same for others. In particular, I think that medicine is a fulfilling career to undertake. Upon graduation, there are numerous job opportunities for medical students and that gives me hope to choose the medical field for my major. Medical students can either choose to work in science institutes, or in hospitals or even invent their path of specialization giving more flexibility according to one’s preferences. I am also interested in medicine because doctors are usually on top of the social scale. I would like to take pride in having a successful, fulfilling career. There is also a great need for doctors in the world currently, meaning it would be possible to get a job on the very same day of graduation. The salary of doctors is also quite good, giving more reasons to be interested in the field.
Ways in which statistics is used in medicine
The first way in which statistics is applied in the medical sector is in the use of biostatistics, which focusses more on public health education. Biostatistics includes an array of principles and techniques that allow personnel in the medical field to come up with conclusions from the analysis of data. The principles of biostatistics focus on using inferences that consider uncertainty. Biostatistics involves the study and analysis of samples of the population of interest. For example, a sample of adults living in America can be selected, and tests can be run on them to determine how many have heart problems. The fraction of the adults with the heart disease should be a good estimate of the percentage of adults with heart problems in the entire population (Sullivan 2).
The second way in which statistics is used in the medical field is by use of pharmaceutical statistics, which involves the analysis of drug trials, the design of clinical experiments and commercialization of drugs. Pharmaceutical companies are usually under pressure to discover new drugs and bring them to the market. Data are collected and then reported in the experimental trials of innovative technologies or newly discovered drugs. Research is also done on trends in the current market to steer the pharmacists in the line of competitive products. The results of the pharmaceutical statistics directly influence the pricing of products according to the consumer demands (Lindsey 74).
The third way in which statistics is used in the medical field is in the medical statistics, which involves the deployment of statistical methods in clinical research. Medical statistics is defined as the science of summarizing, compiling, submitting and interpreting data in medicine, then using the data to test certain hypotheses. Medical statistics uses qualitative analysis of data, while Biostatistics uses quantitative analysis of data (Cleophas et al. 509).
Specific examples
The first specific example is the presenting of findings and generalizations to the public to create awareness of the risks of certain diseases, which is usually a form of biostatistics. The medical researchers can show how certain behavior can lead to cancer or respiratory problems to help people change from certain ways. For instance, the descriptive type of statistics can help to show the percentages of the population that have a certain disease, and the inferential type of statistics can show the potential causes of the diseases. The medical sector can then present the information as evidence to the public to spread awareness, especially during the outbreak of an epidemic (Casto).
The type of data that can be collected for such an exercise includes age, sex, income, diet preferences, and maybe income of the patients. The income would be used to determine if the disease could be characterized as a lifestyle disease as the data can be used to predict the kind of life the patients lead. The data is collected through the use of case report forms, or one-on-one interviews. The statistical analysis methods would be used to link certain behaviors like not exercising or not eating enough vegetables could expose someone to certain diseases (Richesson & Nadkarni).
The second specific example, which involves the use of medical statistics, is the determination of results from experiments that have been done. Before the use of statistics in experimental trials, doctors attempted to answer questions by generalizing the experiences of their patients. The use of statistics sets to account for the sources of variation in the responses of the patients to certain treatments. The deployment of statistics in the medical sector allows the researcher to form rational inferences from the information that has been gathered making better decisions when confronted with uncertainty. Statistics, therefore, helps to determine the most precise qualitative tests for carrying out a diagnosis (Cleophas et al. 509).
The data collected in this example would be blood samples, urine samples, and set of symptoms felt by the patients. The data would be collected directly from the patient by drawing of blood samples or conducting an interview to determine the sets of symptoms felt by the patient. The doctor can use statistical analysis methods to cross check and compare the sets of symptoms, and blood samples to come up with a conclusion instead of relying on the patients’ personal experiences.
The third specific method would be the use of pharmaceutical statistics in the commercialization of drugs. The process of commercialization involves a number of steps such as the study of the toxicity of drugs on healthy volunteers, then a clinical investigation on patients to screen out ineffective drugs then finally, an observation after approval for commercialization. Statistics can be used in the creation of models for the analysis of the clinical trial data. The statistical models can be used to show how some responses to the drugs increases or decreases over the treatment span of the patients. The responses can be plotted on a graph, and an appropriate value is obtained (Lindsey 75).
The data collected here would be the names of the volunteers, their medical history, age, sex, blood samples, and the responses to the drugs. The response variable would be in two phases, one for the volunteers and another for the patients. The data would be collected through interviews and drawing of samples. The analysis of the graphs of the responses of both the patients and the volunteers can be used to come up with the right kind of drug to commercialize.
In conclusion, statistic is very essential in the medical field. The overall well-being and health of populations across the world can be gauged with statistical information. Health care organizations should employ more statistical methods into the medical field.
Work Cited
Casto, Rae and Rae Casto. “Why Are Statistics Important In The Health Care Field?”. LIVESTRONG.COM, 2016, http://www.livestrong.com/article/186334-why-are-statistics-important-in-the-health-care-field/.
Cleophas, Ton J., and Aeilko H. Zwinderman. Statistics applied to clinical studies. Springer Science & Business Media, 2012.
Lindsey, James K. Nonlinear models in medical statistics. Oxford University Press on Demand, 2001.
Richesson, R. L. and P. Nadkarni. “Data Standards For Clinical Research Data Collection Forms: Current Status And Challenges”. 2016,.
Sullivan, Lisa Marie. Essentials of biostatistics workbook: statistical computing using Excel. Jones & Bartlett Learning, 2008.
