“(Florence) Nightingale's passion for statistics enabled her to persuade the government of the importance of a whole series of health reforms. for example, many people had argued that training nurses was a waste of time, because patients cared for by trained nurses actually had a higher mortality rate than those treated by untrained staff. Nightingale, however, pointed out that this was only because more serious cases were being sent to those wards with trained nurses. If the intention is to compare the results from two groups, then it is essential to assign patients randomly to the two groups. Sure enough, when Nightingale set up trials in which patients were randomly assigned to trained and untrained nurses, it became clear that the cohort of patients treated by trained nurses fared much better than their counterparts in wards with untrained nurses.”
Quote by Simon Singh
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Simon Singh (born September 19, 1964) is a British author, journalist, and science communicator known for his bestselling books on mathematics and science. Born in Somerset, England, he holds a PhD in particle physics from the University of Cambridge. His works include 'Fermat's Last Theorem' (1997), which tells the story of Andrew Wiles' proof of Fermat's Last Theorem and became an international bestseller; 'The Code Book' (1999), a history of cryptography; 'Big Bang' (2004), on the origins of the universe; and 'Trick or Treatment?' (2008), a critique of alternative medicine. Singh is praised for his clear and engaging writing style and has won several awards, including the British Science Writers' Award. He actively promotes science through BBC documentaries and public speaking, and has been involved in controversies over alternative medicine. more
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