Use of Data in Medical Decisions

The aim of the course is: a) to show how medical statistics and clinical epidemiology, supporting the Evidence Based Medicine - EBM - approach can be applyed to clinical practice; b) to show how these information can be used to plan and implement clinical decision strategies based on decision theory; c) to learn how an integrated approach, asking for different skills and in a multidisciplinary team can be succesfully applied, having a common culture, terminology and a conceptual framework

Students will be able to: a) establish an explicit relationship between the evidence-based approach to medicine (EBM), clinical decision theory (MDM) and the process of continuous improvement of the quality of health practice (CQI) b) to proceed in finding the main evidences (from MedLine, Cochrane Library and from the Guidelines) and to use them for an evaluation and critical application in the practical activity; c) to plan decision trees by applying concepts and methods of decision theory applied to clinical decision making