If Public Health Canada requests the number of patients receiving a recalled orthopedic implant over the last 5 years, which tool would you use?

In this context, the best tool to use is a frequency distribution. A frequency distribution allows you to organize and present data points in a way that clearly shows the number of occurrences of each unique value within a dataset. By using a frequency distribution, you can easily demonstrate the total count of patients who received the recalled orthopedic implant over the specified five-year period, which is what Public Health Canada is requesting.

This method is particularly useful for aggregating data over time and helps health professionals and organizations to identify patterns or trends in patient cases. It provides a straightforward view of how many patients were affected by the recall, aiding in further public health decisions or measures.

Other options, such as a measure of association, are typically used to determine relationships between variables rather than simply counting occurrences. A pie chart serves to represent parts of a whole, which may not effectively convey the historical count needed in this situation. Lastly, a t-test is a statistical tool used to compare means between groups, which is not applicable in this case since the request is about frequency rather than comparative analysis.