HLT 362 Discussion: Historical Application of Statistics in Health Care
Sample Answer for HLT 362 Discussion: Historical Application of Statistics in Health Care Included After Question
Topic 1 DQ 1
Description:
Discuss the historical application of statistics in the field of health care. Describe an example, other than Florence Nightingale’s contributions, where the statistical application has greatly influenced or changed health care operations or practice.
A Sample Answer For the Assignment: HLT 362 Discussion: Historical Application of Statistics in Health Care
Title: HLT 362 Discussion: Historical Application of Statistics in Health Care
The application of statistics in the field of healthcare has been around for a long time. Historically, advances in healthcare can be linked to increasing applications of statistics and data analysis. Nursing practice is based on the use and application of statistics to analyze patient data, identify trends, and improve health outcomes. The history of statistical data in nursing began with Florence Nightingale during the Crimean War (1853–1856). Nightingale collected data on wounded soldiers, infections, deaths, and injuries. In addition to this, Nightingale observed and collected data on sanitation issues, environmental factors like ventilation and food (Helbig &Ambrose, 2018). With the data collected she found that the soldiers were more likely to have died from other diseases and not of combat (Helbig &Ambrose, 2018).
Nightingale used the data collected as a tool for improving city and military hospitals. Nightingale’s calculations of the mortality rate showed that with an improvement of sanitary methods, deaths would decrease (Helbig & Ambrose, 2018). In 1855, the mortality rate at the hospital was 42.7 percent of the cases treated. When Nightingale’s sanitary reform was implemented, the mortality rate declined drastically. Nightingale took her statistical data and represented them graphically. She invented polar-area charts, where the statistic being represented is proportional to the area of a wedge in a circular diagram. As Nightingale demonstrated, statistics provided an organized way of learning which led to improvements in medical and surgical practices. She also developed a Model Hospital Statistical Form for hospitals to collect and generate consistent data and statistics (Helbig &Ambrose, 2018).
The Body Mass Index (BMI) was developed by Adolphe Quetelet during the 19th century (Perez, 2018). He was a mathematician and astronomer who is considered the founder of quantitative statistics in social sciences (Fienberg, 1992). BMI is widely used in healthcare to measure, calculate, and correlate risk of health problems in relation to someone weight and height (World Health Organization, n. d). It is commonly used by healthcare professionals to determine whether a person is underweight, normal, overweight, or obese (Perez, 2018).
The utilization of statistics evolved and by the18th century focused on the development of mathematics and the theories of probability. Statistics is now widely used in government, business, the sciences, and computer technology workplaces (Helbig &Ambrose, 2018). For example, the US government began expanding their use of statistics from the mere collection of the data for census knowledge such as civil registration of births and deaths to the analysis of this data. The analysis of the data began with the use of epidemiology to study health-related events and diseases. Epidemiology is used to control diseases and improve health conditions (Helbig &Ambrose, 2018). In addition to this, statistics are used in healthcare to identify, monitor patient trends, and ensure quality care. For example, using statistics to identify quality outcomes related to infection rates, fall risks, vital signs, changes to procedures based on data findings, and changes in patient interactions based on satisfaction survey results (Helbig &Ambrose, 2018).
References
Fienberg, S. E. (1992). A brief history of statistics in three- and one-half chapters: A review essay. Statistical Science, 7(2), 208-225
Helbig &Ambrose. (2018). Grand Canyon University (Ed). Applied statistics for health care. Retrieved from https://lc.gcumedia.com/hlt362v/applied-statistics-for-health-care/v1.1
Perez. (2018). The Importance of BMI (Body Mass Index). Retrieved from https://www.victorperezmd.com/blog/the-importance-of-bmi-body-mass-index
World Health Organization. (n. d). A healthy lifestyle. Retrieved from https://www.who.int/europe/news-room/fact-sheets/item/a-healthy-lifestyle
Description
Statistical application and the interpretation of data are important in health care. Review the statistical concepts covered in this topic. In a 750-1,000 word paper, discuss the significance of statistical application in health care. Include the following:
1. Describe the application of statistics in health care. Specifically discuss its significance to quality, safety, health promotion, and leadership.
2. Consider your organization or specialty area and how you utilize statistical knowledge. Discuss how you obtain statistical data, how statistical knowledge is used in day-to-day operations and how you apply it or use it in decision making.
Three peer-reviewed, scholarly or professional references are required.
Prepare this assignment according to the guidelines found in the APA Style Guide, located in the Student Success Center. An abstract is not required.
This assignment uses a rubric. Please review the rubric prior to beginning the assignment to become familiar with the expectations for successful completion.
You are required to submit this assignment to LopesWrite. Refer to the LopesWrite Technical Support articles for assistance.
Objectives:
1. Describe an example of each type of measurement: nominal, ordinal, interval, ratio.
2. Define basic statistical terms.
3. Explain the historical application of statistics.
4. Describe the application of statistics in health care quality, safety, health promotion, and leadership
Applied Statistics for Health Care
Description:
Read Chapter 1 in Applied Statistics for Health Care.
Introduction
Description:
Read “Introduction,” and watch the associated videos by Lane, Hebl, Osherson, and Zeimer, from Online Statistics Education: An Interactive Multimedia Course of Study.
The Visual Learner: Statistics
Description:
Refer to the “Visual Learner: Statistics” to learn more about the statistical calculations presented in this topic.
Nominal, Ordinal, Interval Ratio: Examples
Read “Nominal, Ordinal, Interval Ratio: Examples,” by Stephanie (2014), located on the Statistics How To website.
Fundamentals of Statistics 1: Basic Concepts :: Nominal, Ordinal, Interval and Ratio
Description:
Fundamentals of Statistics 1: Basic Concepts :: Nominal, Ordinal, Interval and Ratio,” located on the Usable Stats website.
Health Statistics
Description:
Explore the Health Statistics page of the MedlinePlus website.
Evidence-Based Practice for Nursing: Levels of Evidence
Description:
Read “Evidence-Based Practice for Nursing: Levels of Evidence,” located on the Northern Virginia Community College website.
Measuring the Quality of Healthcare in the U.S.
Description:
Read “Measuring the Quality of Healthcare in the U.S.,” by Claxton, Cox, Gonzales, Kamal, and Levitt (2015), located on the Peterson-Kaiser Health System Tracker website.
Quality Data Critical to Healthcare Decision-Making
Description:
Read “Quality Data Critical to Healthcare Decision-Making,” by Nicholson and Penney (2004), located on the American Health Information Management Association (AHIMA) website.
Data and Statistics
Description:
Explore the Data and Statistics page of the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) website.
Health
Description:
Explore Health page of the United States Census Bureau website.
Health Topics: Health Statistics
Description:
Explore the Health Statistics page of the MedlinePluse website.
Lopes Write Policy
For assignments that need to be submitted to Lopes Write, please be sure you have received your report and Similarity Index (SI) percentage BEFORE you do a “final submit” to me.
Once you have received your report, please review it. This report will show you grammatical, punctuation, and spelling errors that can easily be fixed. Take the extra few minutes to review instead of getting counted off for these mistakes.
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Late Policy
The university’s policy on late assignments is 10% penalty PER DAY LATE. This also applies to late DQ replies.
Please communicate with me if you anticipate having to submit an assignment late. I am happy to be flexible, with advance notice. We may be able to work out an extension based on extenuating circumstances.
If you do not communicate with me before submitting an assignment late, the GCU late policy will be in effect.
I do not accept assignments that are two or more weeks late unless we have worked out an extension.
As per policy, no assignments are accepted after the last day of class. Any assignment submitted after midnight on the last day of class will not be accepted for grading.
Communication
Communication is so very important. There are multiple ways to communicate with me:
Questions to Instructor Forum: This is a great place to ask course content or assignment questions. If you have a question, there is a good chance one of your peers does as well. This is a public forum for the class.
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Important information for writing discussion questions and participation
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Hello class and welcome to the class and I will be your instructor for this course. This is a -week course and requires a lot of time commitment, organization, and a high level of dedication. Please use the class syllabus to guide you through all the assignments required for the course. I have also attached the classroom policies to this announcement to know your expectations for this course. Please review this document carefully and ask me any questions if you do. You could email me at any time or send me a message via the “message” icon in halo if you need to contact me. I check my email regularly, so you should get a response within 24 hours. If you have not heard from me within 24 hours and need to contact me urgently, please send a follow up text to
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Your initial discussion post should be a minimum of 200 words and response posts should be a minimum of 150 words. Be advised that I grade based on quality and not necessarily the number of words you post. A minimum of TWO references should be used for your initial post. For your response post, you do not need references as personal experiences would count as response posts. If you however cite anything from the literature for your response post, it is required that you cite your reference. You should include a minimum of THREE references for papers in this course. Please note that references should be no more than 5 years old except recommended as a resource for the class. Furthermore, for each discussion board question, you need ONE initial substantive response and TWO substantive responses to either your classmates or your instructor for a total of THREE responses. There are TWO discussion questions each week, hence, you need a total minimum of SIX discussion posts for each week. I usually post a discussion question each week. You could also respond to these as it would count towards your required SIX discussion posts for the week.
I understand this is a lot of information to cover in 5 weeks, however, the Bible says in Philippians 4:13 that we can do all things through Christ that strengthens us. Even in times like this, we are encouraged by God’s word that we have that ability in us to succeed with His strength. I pray that each and every one of you receives strength for this course and life generally as we navigate through this pandemic that is shaking our world today. Relax and enjoy the course!
Hi Class,
Please read through the following information on writing a Discussion question response and participation posts.
Contact me if you have any questions.
Important information on Writing a Discussion Question
- Your response needs to be a minimum of 150 words (not including your list of references)
- There needs to be at least TWO references with ONE being a peer reviewed professional journal article.
- Include in-text citations in your response
- Do not include quotes—instead summarize and paraphrase the information
- Follow APA-7th edition
- Points will be deducted if the above is not followed
Participation –replies to your classmates or instructor
- A minimum of 6 responses per week, on at least 3 days of the week.
- Each response needs at least ONE reference with citations—best if it is a peer reviewed journal article
- Each response needs to be at least 75 words in length (does not include your list of references)
- Responses need to be substantive by bringing information to the discussion or further enhance the discussion. Responses of “I agree” or “great post” does not count for the word count.
- Follow APA 7th edition
- Points will be deducted if the above is not followed
- Remember to use and follow APA-7th edition for all weekly assignments, discussion questions, and participation points.
- Here are some helpful links
- Student paper example
- Citing Sources
- The Writing Center is a great resource
As we begin this session, I would like to take this opportunity to clarify my expectations for this course:
Please note that GCU Online weeks run from Thursday (Day 1) through Wednesday (Day 7).
Course Room Etiquette:
- It is my expectation that all learners will respect the thoughts and ideas presented in the discussions.
- All postings should be presented in a respectful, professional manner. Remember – different points of view add richness and depth to the course!
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Late Policy and Grading Policy
Discussion questions:
- I do not mark off for late DQ’s.
- I would rather you take the time to read the materials and respond to the DQ’s in a scholarly way, demonstrating your understanding of the materials.
- I will not accept any DQ submissions after day 7, 11:59 PM (AZ Time) of the week.
- Individual written assignments – due by 11:59 PM AZ Time Zone on the due dates indicated for each class deliverable.
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- Extenuating circumstances may justify exceptions, which are at my sole discretion. If an extenuating circumstance should arise, please contact me privately as soon as possible.
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- All assignments will be graded in accordance with the Assignment Grading Rubrics
Participation
- Participation in each week’s Discussion Board forum accounts for a large percentage of your final grade in this course.
- Please review the Course Syllabus for a comprehensive overview of course deliverables and the value associated with each.
- It is my expectation that each of you will substantially contribute to the course discussion forums and respond to the posts of at least three other learners.
- A substantive post should be at least 200 words. Responses such as “great posts” or “I agree” do not meet the active engagement expectation.
- Please feel free to draw on personal examples as you develop your responses to the Discussion Questions but you do need to demonstrate your understanding of the materials.
- I do expect outside sources as well as class materials to formulate your post.
- APA format is not necessary for DQ responses, but I do expect a proper citation for references.
- Please use peer-related journals found through the GCU library and/or class materials to formulate your answers. Do not try to “Google” DQ’s as I am looking for class materials and examples from the weekly materials.
- I will not accept responses that are from Wikipedia, Business dictionary.com, or other popular business websites. You will not receive credit for generic web searches – this does not demonstrate graduate-level research.
- Stay away from the use of personal pronouns when writing. As a graduate student, you are expected to write based on research and gathering of facts. Demonstrating your understanding of the materials is what you will be graded on. You will be marked down for lack of evidence to support your ideas.
Plagiarism
- Plagiarism is the act of claiming credit for another’s work, accomplishments, or ideas without appropriate acknowledgment of the source of the information by including in-text citations and references.
- This course requires the utilization of APA format for all course deliverables as noted in the course syllabus.
- Whether this happens deliberately or inadvertently, whenever plagiarism has occurred, you have committed a Code of Conduct violation.
- Please review your LopesWrite report prior to final submission.
- Every act of plagiarism, no matter the severity, must be reported to the GCU administration (this includes your DQ’s, posts to your peers, and your papers).
Plagiarism includes:
- Representing the ideas, expressions, or materials of another without due credit.
- Paraphrasing or condensing ideas from another person’s work without proper citation and referencing.
- Failing to document direct quotations without proper citation and referencing.
- Depending upon the amount, severity, and frequency of the plagiarism that is committed, students may receive in-class penalties that range from coaching (for a minor omission), -20% grade penalties for resubmission, or zero credit for a specific assignment. University-level penalties may also occur, including suspension or even expulsion from the University.
- If you are at all uncertain about what constitutes plagiarism, you should review the resources available in the Student Success Center. Also, please review the University’s policies about plagiarism which are covered in more detail in the GCU Catalog and the Student Handbook.
- We will be utilizing the GCU APA Style Guide 7th edition located in the Student Success Center > The Writing Center for all course deliverables.
LopesWrite
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- Please ensure that your assignment is uploaded to both locations under the Assignments DropBox. Detailed instructions for using LopesWrite are located in the Student Success Center.
Assignment Submissions
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Grade of Incomplete
- The final grade of Incomplete is granted at the discretion of the instructor; however, students must meet certain specific criteria before this grade accommodation is even possible to consider.
- The grade of Incomplete is reserved for times when students experience a serious extenuating circumstance or a crisis during the last week of class which prevents the completion of course requirements before the close of the grading period. Students also must pass the course at the time the request is made.
- Please contact me personally if you are having difficulties in meeting course requirements or class deadlines during our time together. In addition, if you are experiencing personal challenges or difficulties, it is best to contact the Academic Counselor so that you can discuss the options that might be available to you, as well as each option’s academic and financial repercussions.
Grade Disputes
- If you have any questions about a grade you have earned on an individual assignment or activity, please get in touch with me personally for further clarification.
- While I have made every attempt to grade you fairly, on occasion a misunderstanding may occur, so please allow me the opportunity to learn your perspective if you believe this has occurred. Together, we should be able to resolve grading issues on individual assignments.
- However, after we have discussed individual assignments’ point scores, if you still believe that the final grade you have earned at the end of the course is not commensurate with the quality of work you produced for this class, there is a formal Grade Grievance procedure which is outlined in the GCU Catalog and Student Handbook.
A Sample Answer 2 For the Assignment: HLT 362 Discussion: Historical Application of Statistics in Health Care
Title: HLT 362 Discussion: Historical Application of Statistics in Health Care
The historical application of statistics in health care has played a critical role in comprehending various health-related issues, making informed decisions, and enhancing all-around health outcomes. The historical application of statistics in healthcare can be traced to the 17th century when John Graunt used mortality data to study the causes of death in London. The data would identify the rise and spread of certain diseases in the community (Charters & Heitman, 2021). Additionally, in the 18th century, Daniel Bernoulli utilized statistics to study the effectiveness of smallpox vaccination in his community, concluding that immunization is critical in controlling smallpox spread (Costantino et al., 2020). The utilization of statistics in health care has significantly influenced how to prevent, diagnose, and treat diseases (Lv & Qiao, 2020). By using statistical methods to analyze data, we can better understand the causes of disease, identify effective treatments, and improve the quality of care for patients. Therefore, applying statistics can guide the development of assessment tools, measure the effectiveness of public health interventions, allocate resources more efficiently, reduce medical errors, and improve the quality of care.
The development of the Framingham Heart Study is a prominent example of the application of statistics in improving healthcare operations. It was initiated in 1948 as a longitudinal study conducted in Framingham, Massachusetts, to identify risk factors for cardiovascular diseases (Pathiravasan et al., 2022). It made a significant contribution to the understanding of heart diseases, including how to prevent the condition. Statistical techniques were utilized to collect and analyze data from a representative sample of the population, which included approximately 5,200 men and women (Andersson et al., 2019). The study identified significant risk factors for heart disease, such as obesity, diabetes, smoking, high blood pressure, high cholesterol levels, and physical inactivity. The study highlighted the significance of preventative measures and the impact of the effectiveness of population-based interventions (Andersson et al., 2019). Overall, the statistical findings influenced the development of policies to advance healthcare and the development of target interventions to advance healthy behaviors, such as smoking cessation campaigns, initiatives to increase physical activity, and population-wide blood pressure and cholesterol screenings.
References
Andersson, C., Johnson, A. D., Benjamin, E. J., Levy, D., & Vasan, R. S. (2019). 70-year legacy of the Framingham Heart Study. Nature Reviews Cardiology, 16(11), 687–698. https://doi.org/10.1038/s41569-019-0202-5
Charters, E., & Heitman, K. (2021). How epidemics end. Centaurus, 63(1), 210–224. https://doi.org/10.1111/1600-0498.12370
Costantino, V., Kunasekaran, M., & MacIntyre, C. R. (2020). Modelling of optimal vaccination strategies in response to a bioterrorism-associated smallpox outbreak. Human Vaccines & Immunotherapeutics, 17(3), 738–746. https://doi.org/10.1080/21645515.2020.1800324
Lv, Z., & Qiao, L. (2020). Analysis of healthcare big data. Future Generation Computer Systems, 109, 103–110. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.future.2020.03.039
Pathiravasan, C. H., Zhang, Y., Wang, X., Trinquart, L., Benjamin, E. J., Borrelli, B., McManus, D. D., Kheterpal, V., Lin, H., Spartano, N. L., Schramm, E., Liu, C., & Murabito, J. M. (2022). Factors associated with long-term use of digital devices in the electronic Framingham Heart Study. Npj Digital Medicine, 5(1), 1–11. https://doi.org/10.1038/s41746-022-00735-1