Canadian Health Information Management Association Practice Exam

If Public Health Canada issues a recall of an orthopedic implant, which method would best summarize the number of patients who received the implant over five years?

1. Frequency distribution

2. Measure of association

3. Pie chart

4. T-test

The correct answer is: Frequency distribution

Using a frequency distribution to summarize the number of patients who received an orthopedic implant over five years is an effective approach because it organizes data into intervals or categories, allowing for a clear representation of how many patients were affected during that time frame. This method provides a structured way to present the data, making it easy to spot trends, patterns, and outliers in the number of implants distributed year by year or across specified timeframes. The frequency distribution will help public health officials and decision-makers to understand how widespread the use of the recalled implant was, facilitating better management of health interventions and communications with affected patients. This organization of data can be crucial when assessing the impact of the recall and planning the follow-up care or alternative solutions. Other choices do not provide the same clarity for summarizing patient distribution over time. A measure of association focuses on the relationship between two variables rather than summarizing a single variable's distribution. A pie chart is a visual representation that may not effectively detail changes or distributions over time, especially for multiple years of data. A T-test is a statistical method used for comparing means between two groups, which is not relevant when simply summarizing the total number of patients receiving an implant over a period.