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Using the Fusion Proximal Area Method and Gravity Method to Identify Areas with Physician Shortages

OBJECTIVES: This paper presents a geographic information system (GIS)-based proximal area method and gravity method for identifying areas with physician shortages. The innovation of this paper is that it uses the appropriate methods to discover each type of health resource and then integrates all th...

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Autores principales: Xiong, Xuechen, Jin, Chao, Chen, Haile, Luo, Li
Formato: Online Artículo Texto
Lenguaje:English
Publicado: Public Library of Science 2016
Materias:
Acceso en línea:https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC5047473/
https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/27695105
http://dx.doi.org/10.1371/journal.pone.0163504
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author Xiong, Xuechen
Jin, Chao
Chen, Haile
Luo, Li
author_facet Xiong, Xuechen
Jin, Chao
Chen, Haile
Luo, Li
author_sort Xiong, Xuechen
collection PubMed
description OBJECTIVES: This paper presents a geographic information system (GIS)-based proximal area method and gravity method for identifying areas with physician shortages. The innovation of this paper is that it uses the appropriate methods to discover each type of health resource and then integrates all these methods to assess spatial access to health resources using population distribution data. In this way, spatial access to health resources for an entire city can be visualized in one neat package, which can help health policy makers quickly comprehend realistic distributions of health resources at a macro level. METHODS: First, classify health resources according to the trade areas of the patients they serve. Second, apply an appropriate method to each different type of health resource to measure spatial access to those resources. Third, integrate all types of access using population distribution data. RESULTS: In case study of Shanghai with the fusion method, areas with physician shortages are located primarily in suburban districts, especially in district junction areas. The result suggests that the government of Shanghai should pay more attention to these areas by investing in new or relocating existing health resources. CONCLUSION: The fusion method is demonstrated to be more accurate and practicable than using a single method to assess spatial access to health resources.
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spelling pubmed-50474732016-10-27 Using the Fusion Proximal Area Method and Gravity Method to Identify Areas with Physician Shortages Xiong, Xuechen Jin, Chao Chen, Haile Luo, Li PLoS One Research Article OBJECTIVES: This paper presents a geographic information system (GIS)-based proximal area method and gravity method for identifying areas with physician shortages. The innovation of this paper is that it uses the appropriate methods to discover each type of health resource and then integrates all these methods to assess spatial access to health resources using population distribution data. In this way, spatial access to health resources for an entire city can be visualized in one neat package, which can help health policy makers quickly comprehend realistic distributions of health resources at a macro level. METHODS: First, classify health resources according to the trade areas of the patients they serve. Second, apply an appropriate method to each different type of health resource to measure spatial access to those resources. Third, integrate all types of access using population distribution data. RESULTS: In case study of Shanghai with the fusion method, areas with physician shortages are located primarily in suburban districts, especially in district junction areas. The result suggests that the government of Shanghai should pay more attention to these areas by investing in new or relocating existing health resources. CONCLUSION: The fusion method is demonstrated to be more accurate and practicable than using a single method to assess spatial access to health resources. Public Library of Science 2016-10-03 /pmc/articles/PMC5047473/ /pubmed/27695105 http://dx.doi.org/10.1371/journal.pone.0163504 Text en © 2016 Xiong et al http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/ This is an open access article distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution License (http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/) , which permits unrestricted use, distribution, and reproduction in any medium, provided the original author and source are credited.
spellingShingle Research Article
Xiong, Xuechen
Jin, Chao
Chen, Haile
Luo, Li
Using the Fusion Proximal Area Method and Gravity Method to Identify Areas with Physician Shortages
title Using the Fusion Proximal Area Method and Gravity Method to Identify Areas with Physician Shortages
title_full Using the Fusion Proximal Area Method and Gravity Method to Identify Areas with Physician Shortages
title_fullStr Using the Fusion Proximal Area Method and Gravity Method to Identify Areas with Physician Shortages
title_full_unstemmed Using the Fusion Proximal Area Method and Gravity Method to Identify Areas with Physician Shortages
title_short Using the Fusion Proximal Area Method and Gravity Method to Identify Areas with Physician Shortages
title_sort using the fusion proximal area method and gravity method to identify areas with physician shortages
topic Research Article
url https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC5047473/
https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/27695105
http://dx.doi.org/10.1371/journal.pone.0163504
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