Week 3

Hi everyone!

This week is not going to be as hectic as last week. When I meet with my mentor, I will be learning how to do logistic regression and cox regression in STATA and how it applies to this study.

Mainly, I will be focused on my ethics independent research. So far, I have read through some of the ways that the US and UK have allocated kidneys as far as the ‘list’ goes. There are mainly two ways: objective math-modeled and subjective diagnoses-based models. Each has its positives and negatives. The objective model is good because there is no bias involved, but it does not take into account circumstances (for example, what if the person is a single mother to 3 children? Now there are 4 lives impacted by this allocation). The other model is based on how severe a physician determines each case is. While this takes into account certain abnormalities, it leaves lots of room for exaggeration because physicians want their patients to get higher on this list. Since each has its own pros and cons, I think a combination of the two would be the best.

Lots of information this week–excited for the next!
Suman