eHealth Evaluation
Introduction to Quantitative Methods

Instructor: Ann McKibbon - Professor Emeritus & Past Director, MSc in eHealth, McMaster University

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Description

This series focuses on what we can learn about our existing or potential new systems by looking at published reviews in the literature (literature syntheses), from observing people using systems in real life settings (observational studies), or from controlling access to systems (controlled trials or laboratory studies). These three methods of study or evaluation can give us data on outcomes such as time estimates, usage patterns, user expectations, resource use or savings, and costs. Content will also showcase how a planning tool kit from the US Agency for Healthcare Evaluation and Quality can be used to make the planning for and carrying out of an evaluation smoother and more efficient. Multiple examples from the literature will be used to show the importance of various types of quantitative evaluation.

Objectives

• To understand the importance of good methods and tools when seeking to evaluate a new or existing informatics application in health care from a quantitative perspective  (e.g., does it work, do we see cost or resource savings, do processes change or need to change)
• To understand that quantitative health evaluation methods centre on three domains: 
  • already published studies
  • observation methods done in the field
  • controlled studies done in the laboratory or in the field
• To become familiar with some of the tools and toolkits to make planning for new studies more efficient
• To be introduced to successful studies in the literature and how to find similar reviews