Donna M. Windish|Stephen J. Huot|Michael L. Green
Medicine Residents' Understanding of the Biostatistics and Results in the Medical Literature
contextphysicians depend medical literature keep current clinical information little known residents ability understand statistical methods appropriately interpret research outcomesobjectiveto evaluate residents understanding biostatistics interpretation research resultsdesign setting participantsmultiprogram crosssectional survey internal medicine residentsmain outcome measurepercentage questions correct biostatisticsstudy design multiplechoice knowledge testresultsthe survey completed 277 367 residents 755 11 residency programs overall mean percentage correct statistical knowledge interpretation results 414 95 confidence interval ci 397433 vs 715 95 ci 575855 fellows general medicine faculty research training p lt 001 higher scores residents associated additional advanced degrees 500 95 ci 445555 vs 401 95 ci 383420 p lt 001 prior biostatistics training 452 95 ci 427478 vs 379 95 ci 354403 p 001 enrollment universitybased training program 430 95 ci 410451 vs 363 95 ci 326400 p 002 male sex 440 95 ci 414467 vs 388 95 ci 364411 p 004 individual knowledge questions 816 correctly interpreted relative risk residents less likely know interpret adjusted odds ratio multivariate regression analysis 374 results kaplanmeier analysis 105 seventyfive percent indicated understand statistics encountered journal articles 95 felt important understand concepts intelligent reader literatureconclusionsmost residents study lacked knowledge biostatistics needed interpret many results published clinical research residency programs include effective biostatistics training curricula successfully prepare residents important lifelong learning skill