Answer 3 for NUR 550 Explain the value of biostatistics in population health research
Biostatistics are essential in population health because they offer ways of assessing and making sense of health outcome data about people. Matranga et al., in 2021, also highlighted that biostatistics assist in calculating health trends and predisposing factors and assessing given treatment and management regiments. Using the mathematical analysis method of data, biostatistics searches for a pattern in numerous variables and discoveries and, hence, provides direction for the systematic formation of effective and efficient decisions worldwide on its problems with public health.
Epidemiology is essential in investigating and preventing population health issues because it deals with the occurrence and cause of health events in specific population groups. Research directs that epidemiology studies the distribution of diseases, learns about their causes, and evaluates the outcomes of interventions for public health enhancement (Ahlbom, 2020). Epidemiologists use various research approaches to establish the pattern of diseases and risk factors to develop control and prevention strategies.
In my EBP proposal on high-fidelity simulation training for nursing students, epidemiology and biostatistics have the following functions. For example, epidemiological considerations are applied to the data collection method to contribute to the answer to the research question about comparing simulation training with traditional clinical practice. This process evaluates sample size, identification of outcomes, and balancing confounding factors, as described by Pérez-Guerrero et al. (2024). Biostatistics will significantly need to be used to help ascertain how simulation-based training has improved clinical production and decision-making. Nevertheless, it will be significant to determine whether the manifested differences are statistically and clinically meaningful to augment the credibility of high-fidelity Simulation within nursing education.
References
Ahlbom, A. (2020). Epidemiology is about disease in populations. European Journal of Epidemiology, 35(12), 1111–1113. https://doi.org/10.1007/s10654-020-00701-9
Matranga, D., Bono, F., & Maniscalco, L. (2021). Statistical Advances in Epidemiology and Public Health. International Journal of Environmental Research and Public Health, 18(7). https://doi.org/10.3390/ijerph18073549
Pérez-Guerrero, E. E., Guillén-Medina, M. R., Márquez-Sandoval, F., Vera-Cruz, J. M., Gallegos-Arreola, M. P., Rico-Méndez, M. A., Aguilar-Velázquez, J. A., & Gutiérrez-Hurtado, I. A. (2024). Methodological and statistical considerations for cross-sectional, case-control, and cohort studies. Journal of Clinical Medicine, 13(14), 4005. https://doi.org/10.3390/jcm13144005
