All models are wrong …
It was George Box, a statistician, who is accredited with the quote “all models are wrong, some are useful” – but it is a frequently quoted and well attested observation. Over my twenty-plus years of modelling, the balance between ‘wrong’ and ‘useful’ in any one model is a constant tension to hold, and to use […]
Relational Systems
Social relationships are well understood to have a significant impact on health and well-being, with studies from across psychology, epidemiology, sociology and demography highlighting the importance of multiple and interacting social mechanisms influencing mental health, health behaviour, physical health, and mortality risk. In 2010 a meta-analysis of 308,849 deaths suggested that, at a conservative estimate, […]
Thinking about relationships in health – more than a game of billiards.
A crisis of trust, the compassion gap, and growing health inequalities – what do they all have in common? They all say something about how we relate to each other, and, I would suggest, an inability to take these relationships into account in the complex health and care settings we find ourselves in as patients, […]
Helicopters & microscopes
If we lived in a world where helicopters and microscopes were interchangeable we’d clearly be in a bit of a mess. Imagine your satnav giving you instructions for every pothole and divot on the route from home to work each day, or telling you simply to ‘go west’ when you’re faced with a complex network […]
When big data meets Bob Dylan
I’ve been at two modelling and simulation conferences in the last month in which the subject of ‘Big Data’ has been discussed. According to one speaker, a Professor, we are currently producing more bytes of data each year than were produced in the previous 5,000 – each year! Now I’m good with numbers, but I […]
Compassion – not just for nurses
Where has all the compassion gone? Its reintroduction is certainly being called for in buckets – NHS England planning guidance says: “we want everyone to have greater control over their health and wellbeing, supported to live longer, healthier lives by high quality health and care services that are compassionate, inclusive and constantly improving”. I […]