Medical statistics is a science dealing with the collection, organization, analysis, interpretation and presentation of medical numerical data. A compulsory course for clinical, pediatric, stomatological majors, this course polishes students’ ability to solve practical problems in the area of medicine and public health. Knowledge acquisition and thinking training are two arms in the teaching of medical statistics that abides by the following rationale: medical practical problems-research indicators-variation and distribution-sampling error-statistical inference-interpretation of practical problems. In this teaching manner, the students’ statistical skills can be developed to bolster their future professions as medical teacher, scientific researcher, or clinical physician.
This course contains two parts: theoretical statistics and laboratory statistics. The theoretical statistics includes the basic concepts, principles, methods and some experiment designs in medical statistics. It is accomplished with three activities: theoretical teaching, classroom discussion and comprehensive analysis. The laboratory statistics enables students to master modern statistical methods, use advanced statistical software (like SAS, SPSS, STATA), and carry out statistical analysis independently.
