Finding and Using Health Statistics

About Health Statistics
How many Americans are affected by cardiovascular disease each year? Did the number of Americans with health insurance increase significantly following the passage of the Affordable Care Act? How do the leading causes of death in the United States differ from those worldwide?

The answers to these important questions and many others lie in the data collected by government, private, and non-profit agencies and organizations. The health statistics reported by these groups are integral to monitoring trends in the health status of populations, planning the allocation of health care resources, and evaluating the effectiveness of public health interventions.

This course for librarians and students in health sciences describes different types of health statistics, how they are collected, and where they can be found.

Course Goals

1. Understand what health statistics measure and how to use them to improve general health
2. Gain a basic knowledge of the statistical terms commonly used when reading about health statistics
3. Learn different ways health information can be collected, and the pros and cons of each
4. Become familiar with a variety of online sources for health statistics
5. Create a set of strategies to find specific health statistics

In this course

• About Health Statistics: Find out what health statistics are, and who uses them.
• Common Terms and Equations in Health Statistics: Learn what phrases like “statistically valid,” and “sampling” really mean.
• Health Data Sources: Discover where health statistics come from and why that matters.
• Finding Health Statistics Exercises: Start searching for statistics to answer research questions.
• Glossary: This resource contains both a terms glossary and a resource glossary.

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