Week 1. How do you use statistics in your work as a nurse or healthcare provider? Find and discuss at least two examples of how statistics are used in your field. Do you feel like statistics are a vital part of the nursing field? Why or why not?
Week 2. Multiple studies conducted in the United States, Canada, Germany, and the United Kingdom show that the probability of dying in the hospital is higher if you are admitted on the weekend. Why might this be? What factors might contribute to this probability? What could hospitals do to reduce/eliminate this phenomenon
Complete your Week 3 discussion prompt:
Using survey data to calculate statistics can be extremely valuable, but you must also make sure that the sample and questions are unbiased. Design a pair of questions that are related to the same healthcare issue: one that is unbiased and another that would result in a bias in one direction or the other.
Examples:
Do you think that the rate of type II diabetes diagnoses will increase over the next 10 years?
Given the large increase in childhood obesity in the United States, do you think that type II diabetes diagnoses will increase over the next 10 years?
Discuss why it is important to create a truly unbiased sample and survey questions. Then, look at your classmates’ examples and comment on how their examples do or do not create a bias. Do not state which of your own questions is biased and which is unbiased. Your peers will determine which is which in their responses to you.
Complete your Week 4 discussion prompt:
Find an article about the misuse of statistics and share what you have learned from the article. Then, find an example of when statistics were misused/skewed and state the reason why you think the statistics were reported that way.
Complete your Week 5 discussion prompt:
Maybe you have considered buying a term life insurance policy. The expected value of any term life insurance product yields a positive expected value for the insurance company and a negative expected value for you, meaning the insurance company will make profits by selling their insurance products. Would you still buy the term life insurance? Why or why not? Are there other examples other than insurance that uses this same concept?
Complete your Week 6 discussion prompt:
Take a look at the website below:
Hospital Comparison (Links to an external site.)
This website allows people to compare the results seen at different hospitals across things such as patient experience and timely and effective care. Visit the website and compare the hospitals in your local area. What statistics stand out to you? Do you believe that these statistics should/could play a role in patient care?
Complete your Week 7 discussion prompt:
You may have heard it said before that “correlation does not imply causation.” This can also be called spurious correlation, which is defined as a correlation between two variables that does not result from a direct relationship between them. Instead, it results from the variables’ relationship to other variables. One example is the relationship between crime and ice cream sales. Ice cream sales and crime rates are highly correlated. However, ice cream sales do not cause crime; instead, it is both variables’ relationship to weather and temperature.
Do some research and find some interesting, or even funny, examples of spurious correlation. Share, cite your source, and discuss. Why is this an example of spurious correlation? How do you know?
Do not use the same example given from another student. Make sure you read your classmates’ posts before submitting your example.
Complete your Week 8 discussion prompt:
In Week 1, you were asked to analyze the use of statistics in health care. Now that you have expanded your knowledge base, let’s reexamine that relationship. Have you thought of new ways in which statistics could be incorporated into the work you do? Are there ways in which you could improve processes or patient care using these techniques (related to statistics)? Give specific examples and suggestions.
Complete your Week 9 discussion prompt:
Out of all the concepts learned throughout this course, which one was the most challenging to you, and why? Which concept do you see yourself using the most in your career?
