discussion

Think of your local community. What health-related issue currently affects a large number of people within your community? How could research help address this issue? How would you go about obtaining more data on the health-related issue you identified?

This is an opportunity for you to explore the practical application of how to create a plan to obtain data on a health-related topic, specifically in your community. Please respond in the first person, share personal experiences, and ask questions to further develop your understanding of how evidence-based practice can affect health-related issues at the community level.

You may find the following resources helpful as you prepare to respond to this week’s discussion:

National Center for Health Statistics (NCHS) - National and state data sets as well as statistic reports. Information about ordering data sets that cannot be downloaded.

CDC Data and Statistics page - much more than NCHS

CDC WONDER - WONDER provides a single point of access to a wide variety of reports and numeric public health data.

Agency for Healthcare Research and Quality - Data and Surveys

Statewide Planning and Research Cooperative System (SPARCS) - Data dictionaries, documentation and request forms. No searchable data online.

U.S. Census Bureau , Current census data including information broken down by state, city, and region.

WHOSIS -- WHO Statistical Information System