Medical Statistics for Everyone
Basic & Clinical Biostatistics for Medical Biotechnology Consumers
Description/Summary
Basic and Clinical Biostatistics is not a math book – the boring and dreaded bane of students. Almost no theoretical math is presented; rather, the authors have described biostatistics in a manner that allows college graduates and college-bound high school students to understand, critique and participate in medicine and epidemiology biostatistics.
The text was written by Beth Dawson, Ph.D., and Robert G. Trapp, M.D., to introduce students, researchers and practitioners in the medical sciences to the basic applications of statistics to clinical trials and epidemiology. Don’t let the audience intended by the authors deter you from reading this book. The book is written so that any person with a basic math or science background will understand the concepts presented. Drs. Dawson and Trapp possess the academic credentials (medical statistician and practicing physician) to give credibility to the book.
Structure
The text is organized into 13 chapters, three appendices and supporting material. The book begins with basic concepts, which are clearly cross-referenced to later chapters where the basic concepts are applied to specific aspects of medical research and epidemiology. Clearly described presenting problems (examples of actual medical studies) are provided, which are used to illustrate the statistical methods and applications.
Reading the text will give a basic understanding of biostatistics to all readers. For serious students to apply and test their new found knowledge, each chapter is followed by study questions. Finally, a CD with a fully-functional software package and data sets derived from the presenting problems is included with the book .
Target Audience
Given the importance of epidemiology and clinical trials to everyday health, this book is a must-read for those who wish to understand the products of medical research, ranging from the patient prescription inserts accompanying prescriptions to the true meaning of news reports regarding the latest medical discovery. In the first chapter, “Introduction to Medical Research,” the authors list several goals for the book including teaching the reader to interpret vital statistics, to understand epidemiologic statistics, to interpret information about drugs and equipment and to become an informed medical consumer of drugs and diagnostic tests. This knowledge is important to health decisions made by consumers each day.
Summary
Basic and Clinical Biostatisticsis a well-written gem of a textbook, which is waiting to be read by a wide audience of medical and epidemiologic consumers and students.
Publishing Information
Basic & Clinical Biostatistics, Fourth Edition. 438 pages. Lange Medical Books/McGraw Hill (©2004). ISBN: 0-07-141017-1
Basic & Clinical Biostatistics
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