Application of Statistics in Health Care Paper

Application of Statistics in Health Care Paper

Application of Statistics in Health Care Paper

Healthcare, especially nursing, entails the application of different theoretical models and concepts focused on studying principles of assisting patients and analyzing potentially successful interventions. These processes and operations require calculations and making correlations, making statistics a valuable tool and approach for estimating the required data and information for interpretation and decision-making (Fowler et al., 2021). The purpose of this paper is to discuss the significance of statistical application in healthcare. The paper discusses the significance of statistics to quality, safety, health promotion and leadership. In its final part, the paper considers a specialty area or organization and use of statistical knowledge in such situations.

Application of Statistical Knowledge

The use of statistical knowledge allows help providers and leaders to enhance quality care standards, enhance safety by minimizing adverse events and poor performance by providers, and health promotion through providing education based on data concerning the prevention of non-communicable and lifestyle diseases like obesity.
Quality Care and Improvement

Hospitals and healthcare providers like nurses use statistics to assess quality measurement and improvement to enhance systematic processes focused on better care. Data measuring performance and quality indicators like on process and outcome measures is gathered over time and analyzed to identify certain trends and responses to interventions. For instance, the use of innovative models like evidence-based practice (EBP) and value-based purchasing are products of statistical data and knowledge that providers and organizations possess (Kim et al., 2020). Quality, outcome and process measures are data-driven measures that rely on statistics. Statistical data can be patient-related like diagnoses and mortality, hospital-based like readmission rates and process of care like the utilization of beta-blockers as well as adverse events like falls and hospital-acquired infections (HAIs).

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Safety

Statistical information and data is critical in improving patient and provider safety in healthcare setting. For instance, each year, the U.S healthcare system records over 2 million cases of hospital-acquired infections that lead to over 100,000 deaths. Without effective statistics, it would be impossible to get such critical information to develop better intervention to reduce adverse events that impact patient safety and quality outcomes. The financial costs associated with safety issues in healthcare run into over $20 billion each year (Fowler et al., 2021). Therefore, the use of statistics is critical in enhancing patient safety by preventing the occurrence of adverse events like falls and HAIs. Statistical data is essential as it also helps understand trends and issues concerning medical expenditure and monitoring safety measures to enhance public health offering.

Health Promotion

Health promotion is essential for communities and individuals to prevent, reduce, and eliminate susceptibility to chronic illnesses and improve the overall quality of health. Health promotion is important in public and primary health as it assists in developing health interventions for adoption in combating illnesses and ensuring that the system lowers its expenditure. By leveraging statistical information and knowledge, health organizations and even government agencies can track population data to identify large-scale indicators and patterns. Through this tracking and evaluation, they can know most appropriate intervention and outcomes (Lin et al., 2018). Statistics, for instance, ones on COVID-19 pandemic, helps governments to track the infection rates, outbreaks and vaccination rates. Governments also relies on health statistics to identify health hazards like alcohol and even motor vehicle deaths. Through statistics, the government can increase the rate of immunization and roll out other public health measures to lower disease prevalence in an area. Government uses statistical data to create agencies through which it modifies practice, policies and legislations aimed at health promotion.

Leadership

Leaders in healthcare benefit from using statistics as well in managing certain processes and purpose. For instance, using quality and safety indicators, healthcare leaders can set goals to enhance quality through the application of numerical statistical data. The management also benefits from statistical data as leaders can analyze staff diversity, need for training, and aspects like turnover rates and retention of better and dedicated nurses to improve overall care quality and patient satisfaction (NCHS, 2019). By studying components like hours worked and nurse-to-patient ratio, leaders in healthcare can relate the information to other quality indicators to make conclusion and attain meaningful changes.

Obtaining, Application & Use in Decision-Making

Nurse practitioners are taught to depend on objective, evidence-based data in research and practice. Statistical knowledge entails a significant part of the evidence-based model that one takes when working in a large metropolitan institution (Ocakoğlu et al., 2019). Further, in such facilities, one gets statistical data from medical records, claims and disease registries as well as peer-reviewed literature. Further, as a large metropolitan facility, statistics come from emergency room visits and through patient charting. The use of system-wide computer programming and databases to share information allows healthcare providers to access information and statistical data for effective decision-making.

The collected data is critical in analysis and sharing with multidisciplinary and inter-professional collaboration teams. The data ensures that the facility understand trends and patterns among its clients to develop effective diagnostic and prognosis interventions (NCHS, 2019). The analyzed data is formatted into reports and give to the administration and management for effective decision-making and planning to enhance care quality in the facility.

As a nurse practitioner, health care statistics are essential for quality care delivery and planning, especially when dealing with patient safety issue. The use of seasonal data trend on certain condition or disease affecting patients can inform if there is need for diagnostic testing. The insight from such analysis also helps formulate effective non-pharmacological interventions to enhance preventive care.

Conclusion

Statistics are an important part of healthcare delivery and allows providers, management and patients to make informed decisions on the most effective interventions to deal with a disease or condition. Healthcare providers like physicians and nurses leverage statistics to improve care quality and reduce the prevalence of certain disease conditions. Statistical knowledge and understanding enables such entities to address challenges in care delivery and improve health promotion practices.

References

Fowler, J., Jarvis, P., & Chevannes, M. (2021). Practical statistics for nursing and health care.

John Wiley & Sons.

Kim, M., Mallory, C., & Valerio, T. (2020). Statistics for evidence-based practice in nursing.

Jones & Bartlett Publishers.

Lin, L. Y., Warren-Gash, C., Smeeth, L., & Chen, P. C. (2018). Data resource profile: the

National Health Insurance Research Database (NHIRD). Epidemiology and health, 40.

doi: 10.4178/epih.e2018062

National Center for Health Statistics (NCHS). (2019). Health, United States, 2018. Hyattsville

(MD): National Center for Health Statistics (U.S).

https://www.cdc.gov/nchs/data/hus/hus18.pd

Ocakoğlu, G., Kaya, M. O., Can, F. E., Atış, S., & Macunluoğlu, A. C. (2019). Nursing

professionals’ attitudes toward biostatistics: an international web-based survey. The European Research Journal, 5(2), 326-334. https://doi.org/10.18621/eurj.383180

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Assessment Description
Statistical application and the interpretation of data is 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:

Describe the application of statistics in health care. Specifically discuss its significance to quality, safety, health promotion, and leadership.
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. A link to the LopesWrite technical support articles is located in Class Resources if you need assistance.