tricky

The COVID-19 pandemic thrust many news consumers into a world of statistics and deep uncertainty. An endless swirl of numbers – case counts, infection rates, vaccine efficacy – can leave you feeling stressed, anxious and powerless if you’re not confident you know what they really mean. But when used effectively, statistics can help you know more, trust more and avoid surprise and regret when the unexpected occurs. People also tend to want them and find them useful when weighing uncertain risks and making decisions. I’m a decision psychologist. I study how people understand and use numbers as they’re figuring out risks and making choices. I then try to improve how numbers are communicated to help people make better decisions. Here are four ways that stats in the news can confuse you – and...

The nation’s second-largest health system, Ascension, has agreed to allow the software behemoth Google access to tens of millions of patient records. The partnership, called Project Nightingale, aims to improve how information is used for patient care. Specifically, Ascension and Google are trying to build tools, including artificial intelligence and machine learning, “to make health records more useful, more accessible and more searchable” for doctors. Ascension did not announce the partnership: The Wall Street Journal first reported it. Patients and doctors have raised privacy concerns about the plan. Lack of notice to doctors and consent from patients are the primary concerns. As a public health lawyer, I study the legal and ethical basis for using data to promote public health. Info...

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Here Are 4 Tips To Help You Figure Out Tricky Stats – Numbers Can Trip You Up During The Pandemic

The tricky ethics of Google’s Project Nightingale, an effort to learn from millions of health records