Practical statistics for nursing and health care / Jim Fowler, Philip Jarvis, and Mel Chevannes.

Includes bibliographical references and index.

Introduction -- Health care investigations: measurement and sampling concepts -- Processing data -- Presenting data -- Clinical trials -- Introduction to epidemiology -- Measuring the average -- Measuring variability -- Probability and the normal curve -- How good are our estimates? -- The basis of statistical testing -- Analysing frequencies -- Measuring correlations -- Regression analysis -- Comparing averages -- Analysis of variance - ANOVA.

"Demographic, economic, political and environmental changes have been taking place at a phenomenal pace, nationally and internationally. Many of these changes affect people's needs for healthcare. At the same time, the demand for health care mounts from a more informed public having access to information from on-line sources and websites. Campaigns for safe and speedy intervention determine the treatments available and those yet to enter the health care system. The twin axes of patients' safety and the personalised treatment they need require nurses and health care professionals to be confident in the use of statistics, for example, in calculating dosages in oral, liquid, tablet, intravenous, intramuscular, and subcutaneous forms. Nurses and health care professionals should be familiar with the meanings and significance of the numbers they encounter in the context of the care they provide"-- Provided by publisher.