Teaching a statistical program
in emergency medicine
research rotations: Commanddriven or click-driven?
Muhammad Waseem, MD
Research Director
Emergency Medicine
Lincoln Medical & Mental Health Center
Bronx, New York
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Disclosure
• Financial disclosures: None
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Background
• Stata is a command-driven program
• It is a general-purpose statistical
software package used by people of
different backgrounds and professional
disciplines
• Most Stata users are non-physicians
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Background
• No matter which book you choose or
which course you attend….
• Since Stata is used by people in many
fields, most training programs offered
are geared toward programmers and
non-physicians
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Background
• Although Stata has simple commands,
these may be difficult for
non-programmers to use
• Generally, physicians are familiar with
“clicking on” rather than writing
commands
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Background
• Research is an important part of
curriculum of emergency medicine
residency training
• A Research Project is necessary for
graduation of EM residents
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Background
• In order to fulfill this requirement EM
residents have a mandatory research
rotation
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Background
• ACGME fully accredited 3 year
Emergency Medicine Residency Training
Program
• 33 EM residents (11 / year)
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EM Research Rotation
• Formulating a research question
• Basic research design
• Protocol writing and submission to IRB
• Data Collection
• Basic statistical concepts
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EM Research Rotation
• Data recording
• Data entry
• Data analysis
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Background
• First step is to organize the raw data
into a format which is compatible with
Stata
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Objectives
• Does introduction of a Statistical program
(such as Stata) improve the accuracy of
data recording and data entry?
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Methods
• Design: Observational
• Setting: Emergency Department of an
Urban Teaching Hospital
• Participants: Emergency Medicine
Residents
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Methods
• Research Elective
– Two blocks of 14 days each
– 1-2 per month (1:1 learning)
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Methods
• Emergency Medicine Stata Manual
describing basic operation of Stata
created with version 10
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Methods
• This manual was developed keeping in
mind the needs of in-training Emergency
Medicine Residents
• EM residents may have some basic
knowledge of statistics but no knowledge
of Stata
– Emphasis on data entry and data import
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Emergency Medicine Stata Manual
• Just an introduction designed for first
time users
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Methods
• Teaches EM residents the essential skills for
successful data entry and data import to Stata
• Purpose is to reduce the number of incorrect
entries and make the data set usable to Stata
• Hands-on experience using Stata
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Methods
• Strengths
– Tailored to the needs of a specific audience
(EM residents)
– Discusses only simple and basic operation
of Stata
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Methods
• Weaknesses
– Tailored to the needs of a specific rotation
(EM residents research elective)
– Does not teach residents detailed statistical
analysis
– Does not discuss programming
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Methods
• Keep it simple
• Utilize pull-down menus (rather than
commands)
– No discussion on commands
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Methods
• Getting started
• Stata screen
• 4 Windows, 9 Tabs
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Methods
• 4 Windows
– Review
– Variables
– Results
– Command
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Methods
• 9 Tabs
• File, Edit, Prefs, Data, Graphics,
Statistics, User, Window, and Help
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Methods
• Basic commands with pull-down menus
Describe and summarize data
• Data input and output
Data Import
Saving files
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Methods
• Describe data
• Data editor
• Data browser
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Conclusions
• Basic operation of Stata can be learned quickly
by EM residents
• Teaching Stata to the EM residents expanded
their research related knowledge
• Providing introduction of Stata prior to data
entry improve accuracy of data recording and
facilitates data analysis
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Limitations
• Observational study
– No standardized method
• Small sample
• Single center study
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Implications
• It is necessary to develop a training
program that addresses the needs of
physicians
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Acknowledgement
• Biostatistics Course (2009) Weill
Medical College of Cornell University
New York
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