The Teaching of Statistics in the Biological, Medical and Health Sciences: Some Comments and a Selected Bibliography

Abstract

IntroductionSince 1975 when a committee of the American Statistical Amciat.ion (ASA) published guidelines for a core curriculum in medical and health sciences (American Statistical Association, 1975), there has been a renewed surge of interest in the teaching of statistics in medical and health sciences. For example, the 1975 and 1977 surveys on the teaching of biostatistics in medical schools showed that only two thirds of the U.S. and Canadian schools required some biostatistical instruction (we COLTON, 1975; REED, 1977). A n earlier survey by HO~KINS (1958) had revealed that nearly 70 percent of the medical schools required biostatistical instruction. In contraat, the results of a recent survey show that 90 percent of the responding medical schools are currently imparting biostatistical instruction, though there is a wide variation in the topics being covered (see DAWSON-SAWN- DERS et al., 1987).In the decade since the ASA committee report and the subsequent curriculum surveys, when a major purpose for teaching biostatistics was identified as developing shlls necessary to evaluate the medical literature critically, there has been renewed attention and greater emphasis on teaching statistical and adjunct skills necessary to manage and evaluate information, make decisions under uncertainty, and read the medical literature critically. For example, at an international conference, jointly sponsored by World Health Organization and Pakistan, several new guidelines were developed for teaching of statistics in the medical and health sciences in order to achieve the aforementioned goals (Bee LOWE, 1980). Furthermore, a recent panel report on the general professional education of the physicians (GPEP) made recommendations for an educational process providing ski& which assist students to be independent problem solvers and self-learners rather than imparting purely factual information. The report further emphasized that instruction in the basic sciences and clinical hsciplines be integrated in order to aid and enhance learning of scientific principles and their applications (MULLER, 1984).From the recent articles in the literature one can also discern new trends and MULVIHILL et al., 1980; and KRAtL et al., 1983). In addition, many more schools are now offering some instruction in medical decision analysis and the use of computers (see, e.g., ELSTEM, A. A. et al., 1985 ; Organization of Student Affairs, 1985). In many European countries some form of formal statistical teaching and education for medical students and physicians was initjated in the fifties. Presently, biostatistics, biomathematics, or medical statistics is a required discipline for all medical students in most of the European universities, including Austria, Federal Republic of Germany, and German Democratic Republic. However, there is a trend toward more medicine specific teaching in statistics; and in postgraduate medical teaching and training, many special topics in biostatistics play an important role in different didactic forms. In addition, m...