Integrating medical biostatistics into postgraduate medical curriculum.

Background: Knowledge of biostatistics is important for a health professional to understand research methods, analyse new information presented in scientific journals and to assess its relevance for their clinical practice.

Methods: We discuss the implementation of biostatistics in medical curricula, give perspectives on medical education in India, and narrate our own experience of integration of biostatistics into the medical curriculum.

Results: Biostatistics is still not a part of all postgraduate curricula in spite of its growing importance for all medical practitioners in the 21st century.

Conclusion: The need for a reliable tool in research and evidence-based medicine is recognized in most postgraduate medical curricula in developed countries to improve teaching-learning outcomes.