Answer 3 for DNP 805 Select a specific clinical problem and post a clinical question that could potentially be answered using data mining

Cancer is a current clinical problem that utilizes data mining for predictive and descriptive models. With so many types of cancer, stages of cancer, and even items of increased risk there is a need to analyze data to help prepare for many possibilities. The National Cancer Institutes began a mining system in 1973 to help identify and reduce the incidence of cancer. The surveillance, epidemiology and end results (SEER) program collects data across the United States, providing a wide range of sources of information for the study and development of treatment. (Yang et al., 2020)

What is interesting about this data mining process is that it takes information from all over and not just a single isolated division. It allows for an influx of information from all over that can then be broken down into items such as age, race, region of the country, medical history, and more. Because cancer is such a ticking time bomb for so many, analyzing data can help find early detection tools that are so important to the outcome of our patients.

Although there can be some mining techniques that could give way to irrelevant data, there are few that could be adverse in this particular population. Over the years, identifying what can cause or lead to cancer has included almost everything that we come into contact with. Using both a descriptive and predictive model along with many different elements may give us an actual answer. This is a monumental task. But one that is genuinely needed to kick cancer out of our vocabulary finally.

References

Wu, W.-T., Li, Y.-J., Feng, A.-Z., Li, L., Huang, T., Xu, A.-D., & Lyu, J. (2021). Data mining in clinical big data: The frequently used databases, steps, and methodological models. Military Medical Research, 8(1). https://doi.org/10.1186/s40779-021-00338-z

Yang, J., Li, Y., Liu, Q., Li, L., Feng, A., Wang, T., Zheng, S., Xu, A., & Lyu, J. (2020). Brief introduction of medical database and data mining technology in big data era. Journal of Evidence-Based Medicine, 13(1), 57–69. https://doi.org/10.1111/jebm.12373