What is meant by the term “big data” and why is it important to understand.
Big date often refers to “a collection of data from traditional and digital sources inside and outside your company that represents a source for ongoing discovery and analysis” (Arthur, 2013, para 6). Several elements correlate with unstructured data, they are “volume, velocity, variety, veracity” (Hoyt, Bailey, & Yoshihashi, 2014, p. 45). Volume relates to how data is continuously expands with information. Velocity describes how quickly data can be produced. Variety represents to the vast variety of data that exist. Lastly, veracity focuses on data retrieved from credible resources.
In regards to health care, failure to understand data that has been collected on a particular disease or illness can have adverse effects on a patient. Therefore, being able to understand how patient’s symptoms appear to be comparable or not to a certain diseases is crucial in the treatment of patients. There is a vast amount of data available that physicians could utilize in order to treat his or her patients effectively. The health care industry should not rely on information or statistics …show more content…
According to Winters-Miner (2014), PA “uses technology and statistical methods to search through massive amounts of information, analyzing it to predict outcomes for individual patients” (para 4). Many hospitals have turned to utilizing predictive analytics to assist in reducing the number of patients that are readmitted back into the hospital. Physicians need to be able to determine when the appropriate time is to discharge patients and basing this solely on what brought them into the hospital is not always the case. Many infections/disorders can lead to other illnesses, which may result in the patient being readmitted because they were not healthy enough to be discharged to his or her