Loading...
Results of a recent survey indicated that medical students, residents, and physicians lack confidence in their proficiency with medical statistics (Journal Watch Aug 29 2007). Now, a similar assessment indicates the lack of statistical knowledge among internal medicine residents.
The survey was completed by 277 residents (75%) in 11 university- or community-based hospital residency training programs in Connecticut. The knowledge test consisted of 20 multiple-choice questions about the most common statistical methods encountered in widely read general medicine journals.
The mean score on the test was 41%. Residents scored highest on questions about the purpose of double-blind studies (87%) and the interpretation of relative risk (82%). They sc…