Resources Repository
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Tutorial/PrimerPublication, Teaching Resource 1980Threshold Approach to Clinical Decision Making
This classic paper provides a "tutorial" for students learning about diagnostic testing, probability revision, and …
This classic paper provides a "tutorial" for students learning about diagnostic testing, probability revision, and how to calculate thresholds for testing, treatment, and no treatment. The authors describe how a physician's estimate of the probability that a patient has a particular disease is a principal factor in the determination of whether to withhold treatment, obtain more data by testing, or treat without subjecting the patient to the risks of further diagnostic tests. Using the concepts of decision analysis,…
Probability/Bayes | Test Performance | Value of Information | Health/Medicine | Decision Analysis -
Tools/ModelsInteractive, Teaching Resource 2020Interactive Graphic: Interpreting a COVID-19 Test Result
Currently, the most common diagnostic test for COVID-19 relies on reverse transcriptase polymerase chain reaction …
Currently, the most common diagnostic test for COVID-19 relies on reverse transcriptase polymerase chain reaction (RT-PCR), and most often uses samples obtained from the respiratory tract by nasopharyngeal swab. This interactive graphic demonstrates the influence of the prior probability of COVID-19, the test sensitivity (i.e., the probability of a positive test conditional on disease presence), and the test specificity (i.e., the probability of a negative test conditional on disease absence) on the post-test probability of…
Probability/Bayes | Test Performance | Health/Medicine | Infectious Diseases | Clinical Care | Science/Technology | High School | College | Graduate | Doctoral | Professional | Graphics/Visualization | Quantitative Literacy -
Tutorial/PrimerPublication, Teaching Resource 2005Refining Clinical Diagnosis with Likelihood Ratios
This article serves as a concise tutorial about the interpretation and use of likelihood ratios …
This article serves as a concise tutorial about the interpretation and use of likelihood ratios in clinical decision-making. Likelihood ratios can refine clinical diagnosis on the basis of signs and symptoms; however, they are underused for patients' care. A likelihood ratio is the percentage of ill people with a given test result divided by the percentage of well individuals with the same result. Ideally, abnormal test results should be much more typical in ill individuals…
Test Performance | Value of Information | Health/Medicine -
Tutorial/PrimerPublication, Teaching Resource 2024Tutorial: Building Decision Trees
This tutorial illustrates the basic steps needed to develop decision trees in Amua using a …
This tutorial illustrates the basic steps needed to develop decision trees in Amua using a disease screening example. It details the process of how to build the structure of a decision tree, parameterize the model with probabilities and relevant outcomes (i.e., life expectancy), evaluate three alternative screening strategies in a baseline scenario, and perform one-way sensitivity analyses to assess the robustness of the results to different parameter values. Amua, the Swahili word meaning “decide”/“solve”, is…
Probability/Bayes | Health/Medicine | Mathematical Models | Decision Analysis | Clinical Care | Graduate | Doctoral | Professional -
ExerciseNone, Teaching Resource 2024Lab: Giant Cell Arteritis Decision Tree Model
This tutorial walks through the development of a decision tree model focused on Giant Cell …
This tutorial walks through the development of a decision tree model focused on Giant Cell Arteritis. It describes how to build the model structure, assign probabilities and outcomes based on imperfect test characteristics and epidemiologic estimates, evaluate alternative treatment strategies, and conduct one-way sensitivity analyses to assess which model parameters may impact the optimal treatment choice. Amua, the Swahili word meaning “decide”/“solve”, is an open source modeling framework and probabilistic programming language for decision analysis…
Probability/Bayes | Health/Medicine | Mathematical Models | Decision Analysis | Clinical Care | Graduate | Doctoral | Professional -
Tools/ModelsWeb Portal, Teaching Resource 2019Australia & New Zealand Health Intervention Interactive League Table
This interactive league table contains more than 800 Australian and New Zealand evaluations of public …
This interactive league table contains more than 800 Australian and New Zealand evaluations of public health intervention impacts on health gains (in quality/disability/health adjusted life years), health system costs and cost effectiveness. It allows users (policy-makers, researchers, health professionals, general public) to compare the health gains and costs associated with different interventions. The web portal provides access to a Users Guide and a Plain Language Summary of how to interpret table and graph outputs. Read the research…
Priority Setting/Ethics | Health/Medicine | Health Outcomes | Cost-Effectiveness Analysis | Infectious Diseases | Chronic Disease/Risk | Mental Health | Health Systems | Asia & Pacific | Oceania | College | Graduate | Doctoral | Professional | Graphics/Visualization -
ToolInteractive, Teaching Resource 2020RAND Critical Care Surge Response Tool
This Excel-based model allows decisionmakers at all levels (i.e., hospitals, health care systems, states, regions) …
This Excel-based model allows decisionmakers at all levels (i.e., hospitals, health care systems, states, regions) to examine the current critical care capacity in the nation’s hospitals and rapidly explore strategies for increasing capacity to provide care for the sickest COVID-19 patients. The tool was developed by the RAND Corporation in response to the 2020 COVID-19 pandemic. Model input parameters to the Excel spreadsheet include baseline number of beds, critical care doctors and nurses, respiratory therapists,…
Priority Setting/Ethics | Health/Medicine | Mathematical Models | Operations Research | Infectious Diseases | North America | Professional | Policy Translation -
Tutorial/PrimerPublication, Teaching Resource 2017Discrete Choice Experiments: A Guide to Model Specification, Estimation and Software
This is a user guide on the analysis of data (including best-worst and best-best data) …
This is a user guide on the analysis of data (including best-worst and best-best data) generated from discrete-choice experiments (DCEs), comprising a theoretical review of the main choice models followed by practical advice on estimation and post-estimation. Authors also provide a review of standard software. Authors argue that choice of modelling approach depends on the research questions, study design and constraints in terms of quality/quantity of data and that decisions made in relation to analysis of…
Preferences/Values | Health/Medicine | Health Outcomes | Decision Analysis | Economics/Finance | Graduate | Doctoral | Professional | Quantitative Literacy -
Tutorial/PrimerPublication, Teaching Resource 2017Bayesian Methods for Calibrating Health Policy Models: A Tutorial
This article provides a tutorial on Bayesian approaches for model calibration. It describes the theoretical …
This article provides a tutorial on Bayesian approaches for model calibration. It describes the theoretical basis for Bayesian calibration approaches as well as pragmatic considerations that arise in the tasks of creating calibration targets, estimating the posterior distribution, and obtaining results to inform the policy decision. These considerations, as well as the specific steps for implementing the calibration, are described in the context of an extended worked example about the policy choice to provide (or…
Calibration/Validation | Health/Medicine | Infectious Diseases