Why Nobody Believes the Numbers
Why Nobody Believes the Numbers

Author: Al Lewis

Publisher: John Wiley & Sons

Published: 2012-06-11

Total Pages: 178

ISBN-13: 1118332067

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Why Nobody Believes the Numbers introduces a unique viewpoint to population health outcomes measurement: Results/ROIs should be presented as they are, not as we wish they would be. This viewpoint contrasts sharply with vendor/promoter/consultant claims along two very important dimensions: (1) Why Nobody Believes presents outcomes/ROIs achievable right here on this very planet... (2) ...calculated using actual data rather than controlled substances. Indeed, nowhere in healthcare is it possible to find such sharply contrasting worldviews, methodologies, and grips on reality. Why Nobody Believes the Numbers includes 12 case studies of vendors, carriers, and consultants who were apparently playing hooky the day their teacher covered fifth-grade math, as told by an author whose argument style can be so persuasive that he was once able to convince a resort to sell him a timeshare. The book's lesson: no need to believe what your vendor tells you -- instead you can estimate your own savings using “ingredients you already have in your kitchen.” Don't be intimidated just because you lack a PhD in biostatistics, or even a Masters, Bachelor's, high-school equivalency diploma or up-to-date inspection sticker. Why Nobody Believes the Numbers explains how to determine if the ROIs are real...and why they usually aren't. You'll learn how to: Figure out whether you are "moving the needle" or just crediting a program with changes that would have happened anyway Judge whether the ROIs your vendors report are plausible or even arithmetically possible Synthesize all these insights into RFPs and contracts that truly hold vendors accountable for results

Health and Numbers
Health and Numbers

Author: Chap T. Le

Publisher: Wiley-Liss

Published: 1994-11-21

Total Pages: 260

ISBN-13: 9780471012481

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Health and Numbers Basic Biostatistical Methods Chap T. Le and James R. Boen Today, all professionals and students in medical and allied health fields need a working knowledge of the methods for statistical analysis. Unfortunately, the dry language and complex formulas of most statistics texts can be intimidating for those who are not mathematical specialists. Health and Numbers attempts to rectify that dilemma by providing a practical introduction to the statistical methods used in medical and health care settings. Unlike other texts, this book features a lively, user-friendly style that makes the material accessible to all readers—regardless of inexperience with biostatistics, or even acute "math phobia." Additionally, every principle discussed in the text is illustrated with concrete examples that vividly demonstrate how the principle operates and how it applies to everyday health care issues. This book provides practical, nontechnical explanations of such essential concepts as: Proportions, rates, and ratios Continuous measurements Probability and probability models Confidence estimation Hypothesis testing Data plots and diagrams Health and Numbers: Basic Biostatistical Methods is an ideal introduction to this field for anyone involved in the medical support or allied health fields. Students in such areas as nursing, pharmacy, or public health education will find this book a most welcome alternative to oppressively complex, math-oriented texts. Cover Design/Illustration: Bob Pennise

Risky Medicine
Risky Medicine

Author: Robert Aronowitz

Publisher: University of Chicago Press

Published: 2015-09-16

Total Pages: 285

ISBN-13: 022604971X

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"Will ever-more sensitive screening tests for cancer lead to longer, better lives? Will anticipating and trying to prevent the future complications of chronic disease lead to better health? Not always, says Robert Aronowitz. In fact, it often is hurting us... Drawing on such controversial examples as HPV vaccines, cancer screening programs, and the cancer survivorship movement, Aronowitz demonstrates that patients and their doctors have come to believe, perilously, that far too many medical interventions are worthwhile because they promise to control our fears and reduce uncertainty." -- Taken from book flyleaf.

Prophetess of Health
Prophetess of Health

Author: Ronald L. Numbers

Publisher: Wm. B. Eerdmans Publishing

Published: 2008-07-02

Total Pages: 452

ISBN-13: 0802803954

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Respected historian of science Ronald Numbers here examines one of the most influential, yet least examined, religious leaders in American history -- Ellen G. White, the enigmatic visionary who founded the Seventh-day Adventist Church. Numbers scrutinizes White's life (1827-1915), from her teenage visions and testimonies to her extensive advice on health reform, which influenced the direction of the church she founded. This third edition features a new preface and two key documents that shed further light on White -- transcripts of the trial of Elder Israel Dammon in 1845 and the proceedings of the secret Bible Conferences in 1919.

Safety in Numbers
Safety in Numbers

Author: Suzanne Gordon

Publisher: Cornell University Press

Published: 2012-05-15

Total Pages: 285

ISBN-13: 080146501X

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Legally mandated nurse-to-patient ratios are one of the most controversial topics in health care today. Ratio advocates believe that minimum staffing levels are essential for quality care, better working conditions, and higher rates of RN recruitment and retention that would alleviate the current global nursing shortage. Opponents claim that ratios will unfairly burden hospital budgets, while reducing management flexibility in addressing patient needs. Safety in Numbers is the first book to examine the arguments for and against ratios. Utilizing survey data, interviews, and other original research, Suzanne Gordon, John Buchanan, and Tanya Bretherton weigh the cost, benefits, and effectiveness of ratios in California and the state of Victoria in Australia, the two places where RN staffing levels have been mandated the longest. They show how hospital cost cutting and layoffs in the 1990s created larger workloads and deteriorating conditions for both nurses and their patients—leading nursing organizations to embrace staffing level regulation. The authors provide an in-depth account of the difficult but ultimately successful campaigns waged by nurses and their allies to win mandated ratios. Safety in Numbers then reports on how nurses, hospital administrators, and health care policymakers handled ratio implementation. With at least fourteen states in the United States and several other countries now considering staffing level regulation, this balanced assessment of the impact of ratios on patient outcomes and RN job performance and satisfaction could not be timelier. The authors' history and analysis of the nurse-to-patient ratios debate will be welcomed as an invaluable guide for patient advocates, nurses, health care managers, public officials, and anyone else concerned about the quality of patient care in the United States and the world.

Communities in Action
Communities in Action

Author: National Academies of Sciences, Engineering, and Medicine

Publisher: National Academies Press

Published: 2017-04-27

Total Pages: 583

ISBN-13: 0309452961

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In the United States, some populations suffer from far greater disparities in health than others. Those disparities are caused not only by fundamental differences in health status across segments of the population, but also because of inequities in factors that impact health status, so-called determinants of health. Only part of an individual's health status depends on his or her behavior and choice; community-wide problems like poverty, unemployment, poor education, inadequate housing, poor public transportation, interpersonal violence, and decaying neighborhoods also contribute to health inequities, as well as the historic and ongoing interplay of structures, policies, and norms that shape lives. When these factors are not optimal in a community, it does not mean they are intractable: such inequities can be mitigated by social policies that can shape health in powerful ways. Communities in Action: Pathways to Health Equity seeks to delineate the causes of and the solutions to health inequities in the United States. This report focuses on what communities can do to promote health equity, what actions are needed by the many and varied stakeholders that are part of communities or support them, as well as the root causes and structural barriers that need to be overcome.

The Future of the Public's Health in the 21st Century
The Future of the Public's Health in the 21st Century

Author: Institute of Medicine

Publisher: National Academies Press

Published: 2003-02-01

Total Pages: 536

ISBN-13: 0309133181

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The anthrax incidents following the 9/11 terrorist attacks put the spotlight on the nation's public health agencies, placing it under an unprecedented scrutiny that added new dimensions to the complex issues considered in this report. The Future of the Public's Health in the 21st Century reaffirms the vision of Healthy People 2010, and outlines a systems approach to assuring the nation's health in practice, research, and policy. This approach focuses on joining the unique resources and perspectives of diverse sectors and entities and challenges these groups to work in a concerted, strategic way to promote and protect the public's health. Focusing on diverse partnerships as the framework for public health, the book discusses: The need for a shift from an individual to a population-based approach in practice, research, policy, and community engagement. The status of the governmental public health infrastructure and what needs to be improved, including its interface with the health care delivery system. The roles nongovernment actors, such as academia, business, local communities and the media can play in creating a healthy nation. Providing an accessible analysis, this book will be important to public health policy-makers and practitioners, business and community leaders, health advocates, educators and journalists.

Prescribing by Numbers
Prescribing by Numbers

Author: Jeremy A. Greene

Publisher: JHU Press

Published: 2007-02-15

Total Pages: 337

ISBN-13: 0801884772

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Physician-historian Jeremy A. Greene examines the mechanisms by which drugs and chronic disease categories define one another within medical research, clinical practice, and pharmaceutical marketing, and he explores how this interaction has profoundly altered the experience, politics, ethics, and economy of health in late-twentieth-century America.

The Future of Public Health
The Future of Public Health

Author: Committee for the Study of the Future of Public Health

Publisher: National Academies Press

Published: 1988-01-15

Total Pages: 240

ISBN-13: 0309581907

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"The Nation has lost sight of its public health goals and has allowed the system of public health to fall into 'disarray'," from The Future of Public Health. This startling book contains proposals for ensuring that public health service programs are efficient and effective enough to deal not only with the topics of today, but also with those of tomorrow. In addition, the authors make recommendations for core functions in public health assessment, policy development, and service assurances, and identify the level of government--federal, state, and local--at which these functions would best be handled.

Health and Numbers
Health and Numbers

Author: Chap T. Le

Publisher: John Wiley & Sons

Published: 2011-09-20

Total Pages: 336

ISBN-13: 111821062X

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Like its two successful previous editions, Health & Numbers: A Problems-Based Introduction to Biostatistics, Third Edition, is the only fully problems-based introduction to biostatistics and offers a concise introduction to basic statistical concepts and reasoning at a level suitable for a broad spectrum of students and professionals in medicine and the allied health fields. This book has always been meant for use by advanced students who have not previously had an introductory biostatistics course - material often presented in a one-semester course - or by busy professionals who need to learn the basics of biostatistics. This user-friendly resource features over 200 real-life examples and real data to discuss and teach fundamental statistical methods. The new edition offers even more exercises than the second edition, and features enhanced Microsoft Excel and SAS samples and examples. Health & Numbers, Third Edition, truly strikes a balance between principles and methods of calculation that is particularly useful for students in medicine and health-related fields who need to know biostatistics.