Introduction
As with any other branch of science, health care and medicine fields incorporate a rich knowledge base. Numerous students, professionals, and academics use this information to expand their knowledge, deliver care more effectively, and raise the population’s quality of life. The data records are steadily growing due to ongoing studies, but they will not be particularly helpful if they are not correctly registered and shared. Applying statistics becomes an invaluable tool for gathering and organizing information in this context. Namely, statistics can be utilized to improve quality, safety, health promotion, and leadership decision-making from both a short- and long-term perspective.
Application of Statistics in Health Care
Enhancing Research Understanding and Community Knowledge
Making a scientific report (processing and visualizing information) has a single, straightforward purpose: to further the chosen topic’s understanding. This goal can be accomplished by coming to a specific research conclusion and demonstrating the process. For instance, to enhance healthcare delivery, Gold et al. (2020) statistically evaluated the COVID-19 pandemic victims. Significant racial disparities in disease-related fatalities were discovered by the researchers, implying unequal access to healthcare for people of color. The collective also offered a visual representation of their research to help illustrate their statistical findings (Gold et al., 2020).
In other words, statistics contribute not only to topic understanding by researchers who directly experiment but also to community knowledge. These data can save precious time since there will be no need to repeat a well-conducted experiment. The purpose of the article mentioned above directly indicates the significance of statistics for healthcare service quality improvement. That is, by identifying the gap in minorities’ health treatment, future scholars and practitioners will focus their efforts on filling the gap and addressing the issue with respective measures.
Improving Patient Safety, Health Promotion, and Leadership Confidence
Moreover, statistics can contribute to patient safety, health promotion, and leadership confidence by providing tools for acquiring and reporting information. A scientific approach to problem-solving implies testing hypotheses and observing results since tested and proven knowledge can be considered credible. In this context, such knowledge is called evidence-based practice (EBP). According to Bianchi et al. (2018), EBP is “the use of current best evidence in making decisions about the care of individual patients” (p. 919). The credibility of this knowledge is an essential factor in ensuring better patient outcomes and, thus, their safety.
Biomedical and Biopsychosocial Model
It is a common occurrence that emphasis is frequently placed on how to deal with a specific unwanted condition. This approach is called a state of illness within the biomedical model. According to Ogden (2019), it implies the disease is caused solely by direct external factors, such as viruses, bacteria, or the body’s chemical imbalance.
In contrast, the biopsychosocial model considers the patient’s psychological state to locate and address indirect factors that might have contributed to the disease’s onset (Ogden, 2019). Namely, due to psychological factors, health and illness should be considered inseparable and referred to as the health-illness continuum. By paying attention to patients’ psychological needs, practitioners can provide a quicker solution to an unwanted condition and prevent its occurrence in the future. In this context, utilizing reported statistical knowledge on patients’ predispositions, vulnerabilities, and specific conditions’ prevalence directly influences health promotion on the health-illness continuum.
Gaining Insights and Empowering Leadership Through Data
Finally, as such, applying statistics yields a plethora of valuable data. In the meantime, being informed as much as possible can be considered one of the most desired states for leaders. It helps address two important concepts in this regard: uncertainty and ambiguity. The former stands for a lack of confidence during an assessment, whereas the latter describes a lack of understanding. These are the traits of unstructured problems—the problems with an informational background insufficient for clear and confident decisions (Robbins et al., 2020). Therefore, despite the fact that gathering information might be a time-consuming task, it nonetheless has to be done in order to improve decision-making speed and overall quality.
The published findings may be applied decades after the investigation is completed. Reports that use a survey as their method represent a structured approach that involves a systematic and unbiased way to gather qualitative data on a chosen topic. It consists of creating a set of standardized questions with fixed short response options presented to the target population to analyze the gathered data (Lee & Kotler, 2020). Apart from that, one can use observational studies that show a method of data collection through the analysis and evaluation of events or types of behavior (Mazhar et al., 2021). Both of these methods can yield valuable information for day-to-day practice as well as for long-term decision-making.
For example, this information can be used to manage the ED patient flow. According to Morley et al. (2018), the crowding in the ED presented an issue of great importance at their research site. The examiners had to gather information on the patients who flood the ED and all previously attempted solutions to the problem in order to analyze it properly. Specifically, Morley et al. (2018) sought the 2000-2018 reports and examined the acquired data in order to gain insight into the ED workflow and wait times. The data was consequently used to establish day-to-day working hours and gradually address the long-term implications.
Conclusion
In conclusion, it becomes clear how essential the application of statistics is for the future of healthcare. It enables people to develop talents, while society as a whole can enhance the quality and safety of healthcare services, health promotion, and leadership decision-making. Despite possible differences, statistical tools are beneficial for contemporary and future research. The importance of the aforementioned statistical reporting is demonstrated by the example of the ED workflow study, which employed data gathered over 18 years.
References
Bianchi, M., Bagnasco, A., Bressan, V., Barisone, M., Timmins, F., Rossi, S., Pellegrini, R., Aleo, G. & Sasso, L. (2018). A review of the role of nurse leadership in promoting and sustaining evidence‐based practice. Journal of Nursing Management, 26(8), 918-932. Web.
Gold, J., Rossen, L. M., Ahmad, F. B., Sutton, P., Li, Z., Salvatore, P. P., Coyle, J. P., DeCuir, J., Baack, B. N., Durant, T. M., Dominguez, K. L., Henley, S. J., Annor, F. B., Fuld, J., Dee, D. L., Bhattarai, A., & Jackson, B. R. (2020). Race, ethnicity, and age trends in persons who died from COVID-19 – United States, May-August 2020. MMWR. Morbidity and mortality weekly report, 69(42), 1517–1521. Web.
Lee, N. R., & Kotler, P. (2019). Social marketing: Behavior change for social good. Sage Publications.
Mazhar, S. A et al. (2021). Methods of data collection: A fundamental tool of research. Journal of Integrated Community Health, 10(1), 6-10. Web.
Morley, C., Unwin, M., Peterson, G. M., Stankovich, J., & Kinsman, L. (2018). Emergency department crowding: A systematic review of causes, consequences and solutions. PloS One, 13(8). Web.
Ogden, J. (2019). Health psychology (6th ed.). McGraw Hill.
Robbins, S. P., Coulter, M. A., & De Cenzo, D. (2020). Fundamentals of Management (11th ed.). Pearson Education.