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This chapter is proudly supported by Kovach Computing Services Contents:
Written by Allan Palmer at the University of Queensland, An introduction to statistics, is squarely aimed at candidates for the FANZCA Part I examination. It is nevertheless covers just about every aspect of biostatistics that anyone, from medical undergraduate to specialist anaesthetist, would need to know for their everyday practice. Probably not quite enough for those setting out to do some research themselves. For a similar approach see Basic Statistics and Epidemiology for Anaesthesia and Critical Care Practitioners by Robert Fromm and Joseph Varon of Houston, Texas. Unfortunately, the page seems to be frequently unavailable. If basic statistics aren't enough for you then try SurfStat Australia which has moved from the University of Newcastle to the Australian National University. This is a very slick online textbook of statistics with a linked glossary (needs javascript for the glossary links). What you can't learn here isn't worth knowing! There are even online statistical tables (z, t, Chi-Squared and binomial) and some questions to try out. The STEPS consortium (STatistical Education through Problem Solving - based at the University of Glasgow but involving 30-odd statistitians from six other universities in the UK) has a set of downloadable modules mainly for Windows but the Mac is also supported (minimally!). They also have a detailed glossary online. Hyperstat is another online stats text by David Lane. It was in the process of being converted from HyperCard to HTML but it looks like this may now be complete. Usefully, David's site also has a pile of links to other online Stats resources. Jan de Leeuw of the UCLA Statistics Department also maintains an online textbook which seems to be growing all the time it's well on it's way to becoming the best of the lot. This page even has calculators (yes, that's what I said - CALCULATORS!) for t-tests, correlation, confidence intervals, power, sample size and for many other statistical tables as well. Most seem to need various sorts of client side software so check out the main calculator page first. The physics department of the College of Saint Benedict and Saint John University, Minnesota, also has a set of stats pages with CALCULATORS for many functions. PROPHET Statguide is the online guide for a freeware stats package (currently only available for unix workstations but windows versions are in the pipeline). It has an extensive glossary of statisical terms and tests and is also keyword searchable. Interested in an online course in statistics? Introduction to Quantitative Methods from the College of Education at Arizona State University has the course notes for an entire introductory stats class available, as does David W. Stockburger of the Southwest Missouri State University with his Introductory Statistics: Concepts, Models, and Applications. A bit superficial but possibly useful also is STAT 30X: Statistical Methods from the Department of Statistics, Texas A&M University. The Resampling Stats home page is a source for information about statistics in general and resampling methods in particular. Lots of stats info, texts and links as well. Statistics on the Web by Clay Helberg has an enormous section on Educational Resources, including online web courses that are available and some more online textbooks. For another very extensive guide to stats resources on the web take a look at the Interactive Statistical Calculation Pages. There are something like 300 links to web sites that have statistical calculators of one sort or another, and they are nicely classified and things like the necessity for javascript listed for each entry. There are also links to free statistical software packages, interactive statistical demonstrations and tutorials, online statistics textbooks, reference manuals, and journals and links to other statistics-related pages. This is a truly excellent resource. The Institute for Medical Outcome Research (IMOR Ltd) is a German commercial group (mostly from medical backgrounds) set up " to provide our clients with a single key solution to medical questions and problems in clinical research, project planning, product development and post-marketing surveillance." They may be able to help you with your statistics and the design of your trials. For a good hardcopy book you might consider Statistics With Confidence by Martin J. Gardner, Douglas G. Altman and David MacHin or Statistical methods in medical research by P. Armitage. For a far more exhaustive list of links to software providers than I can provide I suggest you take a look at the Software-oriented Pages section of Statistics on the Web by Clay Helberg. There's stuff here for every platform and every budget, including heaps of free working demos. There's even more stuff in his Other Lists of Links. Interactive Statistical Calculation Pages also has an extensive list of free statistical software packages available, including plenty of stuff for the Mac platform and others. StatLib is a library of statistical software and datasets (mostly for IBM compatibles I think). The Statistics page of the World Wide Web Virtual Library also has a long list of links to software providers. The Resampling Stats home page has resampling software for sale and includes a large page of links to other commercial, shareware and freeware providers. Data Description Inc. has a useful sounding stats management package available (for many platforms) called Data Desk. There is also a multimedia course called ActivStats. Unfortunately they aren't free but there are demos! Texasoft has similar packages called WINKS and KWIKSTAT (for Windows and DOS only - boo!) and again there are some free demos available. For some inexpensive and innovative data analysis software have a look at Kovach Computing Services. Particularly interesting and perhaps fairly unique is their Oriana package for analysing circular data (circadian, seasonal etc). Free demos of the various packages are available. Neglected Macintosh users should take a look at Joel West's MacStats Homepage. And before anyone accuses me of being square, check out Gary C. Ramseyer's First Internet Gallery of Statistics Jokes!
Phil Agre at the Department of Communication, University of California, San Diego has written a lengthy and very pertinent page of advice about Networking on the Network. It's about researchers and the internet and is really worth a read. Need a medical dictionary? In nine languages? The Multilingual Glossary of technical and popular medical terms in nine European Languages is for you! It's also searchable. Didn't find what you want there? Dr Schueler's Health Informatics has another glossary (english only). Perhaps you're having trouble with all those medical abbreviations. AcroMed is a computer generated database of biomedical acronyms and the associated long forms extracted from the last year of Medline abstracts (2001). AcroMed is a part of the Medstract project whose goal is to apply natural language processing technologies to extraction of knowledge from biomedical texts. The AcroMed database is searchable by either the acronym or the associated long form. Pharma-Lexicon.com offers a similar service and you can buy a version for your palm-pilot. You can even search their database from here!...
Research Randomizer, using a Javascript random number generator, is a set of pages designed to assist researchers and students who want an easy way to perform random sampling or assign participants to experimental conditions. It is but one of many similar resources listed in the Interactive Statistical Calculation Pages (see also above). getCITED is an ambitious project to facilitate searches for book chapters, working papers, conference papers, and other types of publications and academic research not commonly indexed. The project is off to a running start with over 315,000 identities and 3,250,000 publications indexed, but the site creators are requesting the cooperation of "the entire academic community." Scholars are encouraged to register with the site (for free) and enter in the details of their publications. Anyone may search the database for publications, identities, institutions, or departments, but only registered members may add or edit content. A free database created solely by and for researchers and scholars is an attractive idea and deserves support. It must be noted, however, that like so many other free online services, getCITED is searching for advertisers and sponsors and does not appear to have long-term guaranteed funding. A strong showing of support and interest from the academic community may make this task easier. The Committee On Science, Engineering, And Public Policy of the National Academy Of Sciences (United States) has an online booklet, On Being A Scientist: Responsible Conduct In Research, which deals with many of the ethical issues facing scientists. The Australian Vice Chancellors Committee's Guidelines for Responsible Practice in Research is also available. The Medical College of Wisconsin has the Bioethics Online Service with searchable databases on bioethics and provisions for answering questions of a bioethical nature as well as some links. For a topical read you might consider Ethical Issues in Anaesthesia by Wendy E. Scott, Michael D. Vickers and Heather Draper (Editors).
Almost everything that used to be found in this section can now be found in more up-to-date form in the Veterinary Chapter of the Virtual Anaesthesia Textbook. Into frog dissection? Now you can do it without the mess with the Virtual Frog Dissection Kit which is available in a number of languages. If you just want to see some photos/movies then the University of Virginia has some. In Australia, research projects may be supported by the National Health and Medical Research Council (NHMRC). They have information and application forms for their grants. The University of Sydney Research and Scholarships Office Homepage has information mainly for locals but potentially for others including access to the SPIN database and other funding sources. Both the Australian and New Zealand College of Anaesthetists and the Australian Society of Anaesthetists offer grants to their members and perhaps others. In the U.S., the American Association for the Advancement of Science has set up GrantsNet, a searchable database of biomedical funding options specifically aimed at "scientists in training -- grad students, postdocs, and junior faculty members", and you can also sign up for regular email updates of new funding sources. For another list of grant agencies check out SciCentral's page. In the UK, the Obstetric Anaesthetists' Association has some grants and prizes available. Need to find the nearest medical/health library? Try Medical/Health Sciences Libraries on the Web. It is US based and so the list is heavily US biased but there is an international section and some links to other medical library relevant sites. Each of the libraries listed has its own web site, many of which contain lots of info about local library resources. Well worth a look. Amazon.com has an extensive internet book store. Here are a couple of my favourites:
Textbooks can be also be ordered online from the University of Sydney Medical Society Bookshop, often with substantial discounts. Their bookshelves and stocks of diagnostic gear can be browsed. A similar service is offered by the First Internet Medical Bookstore and also by the MedBookStore. Evaluated Medline at BioMedNet (free registration required) allows superb automatic importation of references for Endnote users. PubMed from the National Library of Medicine is another good looking one. PhyNet Medline Access offers free medline access and fee based delivery of articles via fax, e-mail, or post. Includes excellent help pages and fuzzy logic matching of spelling and concepts. For a list of other free and subscription internet medline databases see the Internet Medline Comparison Table at Medical Matrix. It ranks free and fee based medline services available on the Internet and includes a table about access restrictions, dates covered, fees for document delivery, navigation tools, and utilities for expanding searches to medical concepts. Free registration required You are visitor number This page is one chapter of many in the Virtual Anaesthesia Textbook. Please direct all comments about the organisation of this chapter, corrections to links, and suggestions for additions to: John Loadsman, Questions about the Virtual Anaesthetic Textbook project itself should be sent to Dr. Thompson on this form.
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