Lesson 9: Health data and Its Growing Volume
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This lesson is the fourth lesson of Level 2 of the Data Proficiency Program. You're now working towards your Level 2 - Blue Badge.
We’ve all become more aware of our health these last few years. One thing is for sure - data has played a significant role in this increased awareness. According to a recent article in Forbes, healthcare data accounts for roughly 30% of the world’s data volume.
Surely, you’ve encountered available public data about COVID-19, but even more data is available at your fingertips about your personal health through health apps and wearable devices. So with more and more data, it’s not always easy for everyone to make sense of it.
In this month’s video lesson from the Study Hall: Data Literacy series, learn more about things to consider when looking at health data and how to evaluate health related claims and their reliability. You’ll gain insight on how to interpret health related data and where to look for it.
As state government employees, many of us work with important health-related data that, in turn, is provided to research organizations and academic institutions usually in aggregate form for study. For example at the beginning of the pandemic, the Indiana Management Performance Hub partnered with the Indiana Department of Health (IDOH) and the Indiana University Richard M. Fairbanks School of Public Health at IUPUI to conduct a scientific study to measure the spread of COVID-19 throughout the state. This study helped us understand how COVID-19 was affecting Hoosiers early on.
EXTRA READING
In this month’s bonus reading, we’ve linked to a couple of articles that dive deeper into this month’s topic, including how technology can be used responsibly and how the potential of all of this data can be realized.
Consumers are awash In healthcare data—here are four ways technology can help manage it (Forbes)
Unlocking the potential of health data to help research and treatments (Nature)
MORE RESOURCES
Indiana Data Hub
Maintained by Indiana Management Performance Hub, the Indiana Data Hub is your home for actionable data covering a variety of subject matter areas within Indiana State Government. This data is housed securely, de-identified, and published in a manner that promotes analysis, collaboration, and innovation. Currently on the Hub, there are 113 datasets related to Health and Human Services.
Indiana Data Hub: Health and Human Services datasets
Indiana Department of Health
Explore published information about various health topics affecting Hoosiers on the IDOH Data & Reports page.
<< Go back to Lesson Eight: Understanding Election Data | Go to Lesson 10: Social media data
The video for lesson 9 (Health Data: Study Hall Data Literacy #8 ASU + Crash Course) comes from the Study Hall: Data Literacy series released in September 2020 by Arizona State University as part of the popular Crash Course learning channel on YouTube.