ABSTRACT
This chapter describes a gap between the need for statistical knowledge and the degree of expertise characteristic of physicians in medical practice. It offers suggestion for reducing the gap between statistical knowledge and its need in medical practice. Statistical knowledge is also knowledge that underlies the process of drawing inferences from data—sometimes called procedural knowledge. Determination of the gap in physicians' statistical knowledge is based in part on data from a project designed to investigate how statistical knowledge might aid physicians who are making medical decisions. The MD-STAT project was intended in part to determine whether practicing physicians perceived a need for statistical data in the clinical setting, and so, what types of statistical concepts they needed to understand in the research literature. A breast cancer case begins when a symptom or indication of breast cancer is presented to the physician. Once the breast cancer is diagnosed, the next major decision-making task is to prescribe a treatment for the cancer.
