Is statistics helpful?

[Guest smooth operater]

Hey guys.

 

I am doing a biochemistry degree at UBC and planning to take a elementary statistics for applications course. For those of you went to UBC, the course is STAT 200. I heard the course is pretty boring. But do you think having a good intro to statistics will be helpful for health care profession?

 

For those of you who did Biochem at UBC. will it be helpful for higher level biochem courses?

 

I just want to make sure that I learn something useful after spending $400.

[Guest Kirsteen]

Hi there,

 

From an entirely epidemiologically biased opinion ( ) I think statistics is a great adjunct experience to the profession of medicine, most especially if you can see yourself practicing within an academic centre. Statistics is an elemental part of medical research, most notably clinical research, which forms the basis for a good chunk of health care decision-making. I've found that folks who are comfortable with statistics and/or epidemiology appreciate clinical conducting and using clinical research more than those who do not. To boot, clinical research is fun, once you take your statistics that far.

 

Cheers,

Kirsteen

[Guest csp0304]

Maybe this thread will help too.

p084.ezboard.com/fpremed1...ic&index=4

[Guest 604EL]

I didn't actually take stat200, I took the dumbed down version of it (stat203). I don't know how different they are, but I didn't find 203 that useful.

 

First of all, I think most people forget almost everything they've learned in that course within a year (at least I have). Secondly, most of the stuff you learn in that course don't really apply to the healthcare/research setting.

 

However, one thing you might want to keep in mind is that to apply to UofA... you need a stats course, so there's no harm in taking it. Also, that course usually jacks up your gpa.

[Guest leviathan]

As Kirsteen said above, YES statistics is a very valuable course. You probably won't retain half of what you learn in the course, but as long as you remember the core principles of how the statistics work for calculating P values, Z scores, etc., then you will be able to understand the enormous volume of research info you'll encounter throughout your life as a physician. Evidence based medicine is becoming very big.

[Guest Kirsteen]

Hi there,

 

I'm not at all versed on UBC's stats course offerings, but my interest was piqued when it was mentioned above that Stat203 was a wee bit irrelevant for health care purposes. So I did a quick search and found the course website, where they note that the following topics are covered within the course:

 

Chapters 1-6: Exploring and understanding data (displays and summaries of categorical and quantitative data, normal model)

Chapters 7-9: Exploring relationships between variables, (scatterplots, correlation, regression)

Chapters 12,13: Gathering data (sample surveys, experiments)

Chapters 14, 15, 18: Randomness and probability, central limit theorem

Chapters 19-22: Inference for proportions

Chapters 23-25: Inference for means

 

If you can complete any stats course and gain a good understanding of all of the above, most especially the topics on regression and inference of means and proportions, then you should be able to grasp the majority of clinical research papers out there. As an example, I'm currently heading a significant project here in Glasgow looking at coronary disease intervention outcomes. The analyses for this project have involved proportion inference (the classic "Table 1" of most clinical research papers), and regression models. These approaches seem nicely covered by the Stat203 course, and they form the core of an article which is suitable for publication in a major medical journal.

 

Additionally, once you have a good handle on statistical approaches and when to apply them, you will have the skills to be able to take research proposals (hypotheses generated from the work you do and the things you see, and the practical methods to test them) to team up with clinicians and fly with your own research endeavours.

 

Cheers,

Kirsteen

[Guest physiology]

Hello Smooth Operator,

 

As pointed out by CSP0304, you posted a topic very similar to a previous one p084.ezboard.com/fpremed1...ic&index=4

 

Instead of posting the same topic, with a few different words thrown in, you can "bump" the thread up to the top by re-posting in that same topic, if you feel your post hasn't been answered to your satisfaction.

 

Thanks

Physio

[Guest kellyl20]

Sibling took STATS 200 and found it very useful when doing summer research and publications etc. They did mention that many of their classmate took Stats 203 instead, useless in their opionion, but it was a choice. Guess why they took 203 instead of 200