CE103 Statistical Literacy for Medical Librarians: Swimming in a Whirlpool of Conflicting Medical Claims

Level: Beginning+
Prerequisite: None
Cost: $305 (nonmember, $545)

Instructor(s): Stephen D. Simon, Independent Statistical Consultant, P. Mean Consulting, Leawood, KS, and Susan Sanders, AHIP, Clinical Medical Librarian, Health Sciences Library, University of Missouri–Kansas City

Offered: Saturday, May 19, 8:00 a.m.–5:00 p.m.

The class will be taught through a combination of lecture, demonstration, discussion, and hands-on exercises.   Learners will gain skills in interpreting statistics in the medical literature through an understanding of concepts such as confidence intervals, odds ratios, p-values, and measures of risk.  Participants will learn how different research design choices influence the ability of a research study to inform patients and health care providers about the benefits and risks of new medical therapies.  Mini-lectures will build awareness of the history of causality in the health sciences, the hierarchy of evidence, and the librarian’s role in the systematic review process. The class will include a discussion of the systematic review process with published authors of book chapters on this topic, librarians Marie K. Saimbert and Jenny Pierce.