MATHEMATICAL STATISTICS AS A NECESSARY EQUIVALENT FOR EDUCATION OF MEDICAL STUDENTS

Olha Haborets

Donetsk national medical university

Mathematical statistics is a science that develops mathematical methods of systematization and use of statistical data for scientific and practical conclusions, based on the theory of probabilities, gives the possibility to assess the reliability and accuracy of the conclusions made on the basis of a limited statistical material.

In the context of modern requirements for the integration of science and education, the preparation of a graduate of the university, including a medical profile, the future doctor should have the necessary level of mathematical competence, the basis of which is laid on the first course of study at the Medical University. With scientific advances in modern medicine, including health care, there is a growing need for objectivity, so that data can be properly processed and interpreted, leading to conclusions that can be warranted tests. Even before observations and data are collected, experiments must be developed and planned, taking into account further statistical analysis of the data. Most senior students and graduates of the medical university experience difficulties in using mathematical methods, especially methods for solving research problems in professional activities.

The training of a highly qualified medical specialist is a major which is put before the employees of the higher medical education system. A graduate of a medical university should be ready for various types of activities: Medical, organizational, managerial, research, and for this purpose the educational, professional and professional competencies. In the context of the development of modern science and the ever-growing volume of knowledge, the information flow it is worth noting that research activities are an integral part of the training of a medical specialist, the most important component of which is the mathematical component, and in particular mathematical statistics.

In higher medical institutions, for many years there has been teaching medical statistics as a variety of biological statistics. Today, a great deal of work is being carried out in the field of reforming higher education, educational working programs, teaching technologies are being improved, new disciplines are being introduced, in particular biological statistics. Well-known scientists in the field of social medicine and health care organization, especially in forming it as a discipline, are engaged in a great work in this direction, set out in the higher medical school. Among them V. Moskalenko, Yu. Voronenko, V. Ponomarenko and others.

Doctors know a lot of methods of diagnosis and treatment, the effectiveness of which was "proven" by statistical methods and which, nevertheless, "went into the water", not with standing the testing of the practice. And how often it is necessary to read articles in which statistical manipulations with the same data lead to directly opposite conclusions. All this leads the future doctor to the idea that statistical methods are either unreliable, or too complicated to understand, or not at all more than the instrument of an unscrupulous researcher.

Thus, the ability to apply statistical methods in medicine is not reduced to the teaching of several formulas and the ability to find a tabular value. Like any creative activity, the use of statistical methods and the interpretation of the obtained results require deep penetration into the essence of the matter - understanding both the possibilities and limitations of the methods used, and the essence of the solved clinical problem.

References

1. Moskalenko V. F, Hulchii O. P, & Holubchykov M. V. (2009). Biostatystyka. Pid zahalnoiu redaktsiieiu chlena-korespondenta AMN Ukrainy, profesora V.F. Moskalenka [Biostatistiks. Under the general editorship of Corresponding Member of AMS of Ukraine, Professor Moskalenko V.F]. Kyiv: Knyha plius [in Ukrainian].

2. Haborets O.A. (2019). Informatsiini tekhnolohii v systemi fakhovoi pidhotovky maibutnikh likariv. Kliuchovi pytannia naukovykh doslidzhen u sferi pedahohiky ta psykholohii u ХХІ st [Information technologies in the system of professional training of future doctors. Key issues of scientific research in the field of pedagogy and psychology in the XXI century] (pp.10-12). Lviv: NGO «Lvivska pedahohichna spilnota» [in Ukrainian].