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Spatial Accessibility of Primary Health Care in Rural Areas in Poland

The aim of the study was to assess the spatial accessibility of basic and universal healthcare (understood as primary healthcare (PHC) facilities) in rural statistical localities in Poland. Data from the National Health Fund, Central Statistical Office, National Register of Geographic Names and Open...

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Autores principales: Lechowski, Łukasz, Jasion, Angelika
Formato: Online Artículo Texto
Lenguaje:English
Publicado: MDPI 2021
Materias:
Acceso en línea:https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC8431058/
https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/34501871
http://dx.doi.org/10.3390/ijerph18179282
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author Lechowski, Łukasz
Jasion, Angelika
author_facet Lechowski, Łukasz
Jasion, Angelika
author_sort Lechowski, Łukasz
collection PubMed
description The aim of the study was to assess the spatial accessibility of basic and universal healthcare (understood as primary healthcare (PHC) facilities) in rural statistical localities in Poland. Data from the National Health Fund, Central Statistical Office, National Register of Geographic Names and OpenStreetMap were used in the research. The research was carried out on the basis of modelled distance from the rural statistical localities to the nearest PHC facility. The methods used included network analysis, characteristics of normal point distribution, Theil index, and spatial autocorrelation. Areas where the greatest shortages of access to PHC facilities occurred were indicated on the basis of the analysis of their clustering density. The average distance from rural statistical localities in Poland to PHC facilities is about 5 km. Slightly more than 70% of the distance values are within one standard deviation of the mean. Better access to the examined healthcare facilities is available in the southern and central parts of Poland, while northern and eastern Poland, as well as the border areas, suffer from lower accessibility. Poor access to PHC occurs first of all at the border of Greater Poland Voivodeship with the Kuyavian–Pomeranian Voivodeship, on the border of the Lodz Voivodeship, in Masovian and Swietokrzyskie Voivodeship, and in the ring surrounding Warsaw, as well as in the Pomeranian Voivodeship. The research findings can be used to develop strategies to improve the accessibility of primary care facilities in rural areas.
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spelling pubmed-84310582021-09-11 Spatial Accessibility of Primary Health Care in Rural Areas in Poland Lechowski, Łukasz Jasion, Angelika Int J Environ Res Public Health Article The aim of the study was to assess the spatial accessibility of basic and universal healthcare (understood as primary healthcare (PHC) facilities) in rural statistical localities in Poland. Data from the National Health Fund, Central Statistical Office, National Register of Geographic Names and OpenStreetMap were used in the research. The research was carried out on the basis of modelled distance from the rural statistical localities to the nearest PHC facility. The methods used included network analysis, characteristics of normal point distribution, Theil index, and spatial autocorrelation. Areas where the greatest shortages of access to PHC facilities occurred were indicated on the basis of the analysis of their clustering density. The average distance from rural statistical localities in Poland to PHC facilities is about 5 km. Slightly more than 70% of the distance values are within one standard deviation of the mean. Better access to the examined healthcare facilities is available in the southern and central parts of Poland, while northern and eastern Poland, as well as the border areas, suffer from lower accessibility. Poor access to PHC occurs first of all at the border of Greater Poland Voivodeship with the Kuyavian–Pomeranian Voivodeship, on the border of the Lodz Voivodeship, in Masovian and Swietokrzyskie Voivodeship, and in the ring surrounding Warsaw, as well as in the Pomeranian Voivodeship. The research findings can be used to develop strategies to improve the accessibility of primary care facilities in rural areas. MDPI 2021-09-02 /pmc/articles/PMC8431058/ /pubmed/34501871 http://dx.doi.org/10.3390/ijerph18179282 Text en © 2021 by the authors. https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/Licensee MDPI, Basel, Switzerland. This article is an open access article distributed under the terms and conditions of the Creative Commons Attribution (CC BY) license (https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/).
spellingShingle Article
Lechowski, Łukasz
Jasion, Angelika
Spatial Accessibility of Primary Health Care in Rural Areas in Poland
title Spatial Accessibility of Primary Health Care in Rural Areas in Poland
title_full Spatial Accessibility of Primary Health Care in Rural Areas in Poland
title_fullStr Spatial Accessibility of Primary Health Care in Rural Areas in Poland
title_full_unstemmed Spatial Accessibility of Primary Health Care in Rural Areas in Poland
title_short Spatial Accessibility of Primary Health Care in Rural Areas in Poland
title_sort spatial accessibility of primary health care in rural areas in poland
topic Article
url https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC8431058/
https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/34501871
http://dx.doi.org/10.3390/ijerph18179282
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