Some Comments on Teaching Biostatistics in Medical and Health Sciences

H. Sahai

doi:10.1055/s-0038-1634765

Methods of Information in Medicine, Table of Contents

Methods Inf Med 1990; 29(01): 41-43
DOI: 10.1055/s-0038-1634765

Statistical Analysis

Schattauer GmbH

Some Comments on Teaching Biostatistics in Medical and Health Sciences

H. Sahai

¹University of Puerto Rico, Medical Sciences Campus, San Juan, Puerto Rico

› Author Affiliations

Abstract

The role of statistical methods is now well recognized in health sciences since these disciplines are concerned with the study of communities or populations where the principles of sampling and statistical inference are clearly applicable. However, many medical and health sciences teachers and students have been slower to perceive the need for knowledge of biostatistical methods, even though all aspects of medical diagnosis and prognosis are governed by the laws of probability. Some of them are still skeptical about the value and importance of biostatistical principles to their fields and raise questions about the meaning, content, and nature of biostatistics and relevance of its teaching to health sciences disciplines. The purpose of this essay is to address some of these issues with the hope to invoke comments and responses from other biostatistics instructors who have encountered similar predicaments in their teaching and consulting roles to health sciences students and professionals.

Key-Words

Biostatistics - Teaching - Software - Health Sciences

Full Text

References

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