Thursday, November 03, 2016

why do we need to learn Biostatistics

When I was in medical school 4 decades ago, the bugbear of a subject was SPM ( social and preventive medicine. only a few unfortunate souls who could't get in to lucrative  postgraduate specialities  used to end up in nonclinical specializations and  in that SPM was the last choice.

So you can expect the caliber of teachers of this most important subject  for keeping a population healthy.

Most students paid no attention to the lecturer and  were  using the time to other things.
the only time  SPM  professors had any  respect  and power was when  we had to  take the final exams.
now after spending all theses years in clinical surgery and medicine. I feel in order to make a large difference in the  health of a population preventive medicine  plays a great part.
Biostatistics lay at the heart of this speciality and  very little is taught in  medical schools in india.
and those who are teaching the rudiments  of this make the subject so boring  students either doze off in the class or walkout. i am trying to relearn biostatistics, which is fascinating to me .

  we are  increasingly neglecting  this low cost solution and  this is leading to galloping healthcare costs across the world. the emerging  economies are going to face this pretty soon if they don't wake up and   look in to this .

Two countries china and  India who comprise a major segment of the global population should put their efforts in to this and people of those countries  should stop feeling physical work is for the lower class and  being fat is a  sign of prosperity we will be able to save  Billions  ( that is with a B) of healthcare dollars.

Today’s increasingly complex surveillance systems require advanced data analysis and data management support. To adjust for missing data, account for confounders through multivariate modeling, and formally assess trends and clusters that may necessitate input from individuals with advanced training in biostatistics.

No comments: