Understanding Medical Information: A User's Guide to Informatics and Decision-making

This is a fascinating first book on how to access the vast and rapidly expanding array of medical information now available and how to critically evaluate it. It is ideal for those entering medicine, the health professions, or clinical psychology, those who desire a refresher, and anyone in need of a readable introduction to medical informatics. It clearly explains the major types of medical research. It describes the role of statistics in evaluating medical studies. It points up how social and ethical issues influence research-funding and publication of primary research. It covers how the literature is used both to diagnose individual patients and to evaluate the health of populations. It shows how physicians make decisions under conditions of uncertainty.There are practical tips on evaluating the validity of information on the Internet. It considers the limits of artificial intelligence in medicine, and highly select, annotated references point readers to additional useful resources.