Resources Repository
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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…
Test Performance | Probability/Bayes | Infectious Diseases | Clinical Care | Health/Medicine | Science/Technology | High School | College | Graduate | Doctoral | Professional | Graphics/Visualization | Quantitative Literacy -
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,…
Operations Research | Priority Setting/Ethics | Mathematical Models | Infectious Diseases | Health/Medicine | North America | Professional | Policy Translation -
Tutorial/PrimerPublication, Teaching Resource 2017Guide to Regulatory Impact Analysis
Regulatory impact analyses (RIAs) weigh the benefits of regulations against the burdens they impose and …
Regulatory impact analyses (RIAs) weigh the benefits of regulations against the burdens they impose and are invaluable tools for informing decision makers. The Consumer’s Guide to Regulatory Impact Analysis: Ten Tips for Being an Informed Policymaker offers 10 tips for non-specialist policymakers and interested stakeholders who will be reading RIAs as consumers.
Benefit-Cost Analysis | Risk Analysis | Government/Law | Global -
Tutorial/PrimerWeb Portal, Teaching Resource 2018OR-Notes
OR-Notes are a series of introductory notes on topics that fall under the broad heading …
OR-Notes are a series of introductory notes on topics that fall under the broad heading of the field of operations research (OR). They were developed and used by J E Beasley in an introductory OR course at Imperial College. He has made them available for use by any students and teachers interested in OR subject provided he is acknowledged and identified as their author. J E Beasley completed his PhD in Management Science at Imperial…
Operations Research | Business/Industry -
Tutorial/PrimerPublication, Teaching Resource 2015White Paper: Retrospective Benefit-Cost Analysis
In this article the authors consider how benefit-cost analysis can be used retrospectively to promote …
In this article the authors consider how benefit-cost analysis can be used retrospectively to promote understanding of the impacts after a policy is implemented. Serving as a brief primer, the authors propose that analysis can be useful for identifying needed reforms as well as in improving the conduct of future prospective analyses. The major challenges relate to estimating what would have occurred in the absence of the policy and separating the effects of the policy…
Benefit-Cost Analysis | Priority Setting/Ethics | Social Determinants | Environmental Health | Policy/Regulation | Culture/Society | Economics/Finance | Government/Law | North America | College | Graduate | Doctoral | Critical Thinking/Analysis | Policy Translation -
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 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,…
Test Performance | Probability/Bayes | Value of Information | Decision Analysis | Health/Medicine