The future is now and, in my opinion, this consists of artificial intelligence, robotics, and data. Why is data important? This is a rhetorical question as you will have guessed; however, it can help improve individual and collective care, speeding up diagnoses as well as planning treatments and services on a national scale.
This short and easily readable textbook is produced by our colleagues from across the pond. The first few chapters focus on the American databases that are available (e.g. National Cancer Database) and they discuss how insurance and payment databases are used. However, there are sections that can be used for our own learning.
Useful extracts from this book include the tables that discuss advantages of big data research, study designs, issues with selection bias and how missing data can influence the research into this. There is a worthwhile summary of approaches of data use in ENT and the various subspecialties we have. It discusses common problems that we have in big data ethics and mitigated actions, as well as looking at common performance metrics to assess quality of machine learning algorithms. Finally, it goes into applications of AI in ENT and gives a useful chapter at the end on the patient perspective in big data and clinical care.
Overall, this is a nice little book to have on your shelf and serves as a good guide about data use. It can be used by anyone from medical student to senior clinician; but you will need to look elsewhere to find an equivalent book on data in the NHS and UK that would be applicable in the ENT setting.
