Doing Research with GIS: Applications in Health Geography

1. Doing Research with GIS: Applications in Health Geography If all ambulances could fly…

2. Undergraduate Level Research Geography Program, UNBC • Jessica McGregor • Neil Hanlon • Scott Emmons • Seamus Carroll • Aaron Koning

3. Research Question • Does access to emergency care meet provincial standards in Northern British Columbia when network analysis is used? • Comparing two methods of measuring geographical accessibility in northern BC

4. Literature Review • “Correlation of Travel Time on Roads vs. Straight Line Distance” • Ciaran S. Phibbs and Harold Luft (1995) • “Normative Models and Healthcare Planning: Network-Based Simulations Within a Geographic Information System Environment” • Stephen Walsh, Phillip Page and Wilbert Gesler (1997) • “Examining distance effects on hospitalizations using GIS: a study of three health regions in British Columbia, Canada” • Ge Lin, Diane Allan and Margaret Penning (2002)

5. Study Area

6. Study Context • Standards of Accessibility • Emergency Care • 24/7/52 basis • within one hour travel time, or the “Golden Hour” • for 98% of the population • Method of Measurement • Straight-line distance, or “as the crow flies”

7. Percentage of NHA Population within 50km of Acute Care Facility by HSDA • Includes Diagnostic & Treatment Centres, Federal Nursing Stations and Red Cross Outposts • Source: Standards of Accessibility and Guidelines for Provision of Sustainable Acute Care Services, Appendix 4

8. Data • Hospital • Road Data • Enumeration Area Data (1996) • Block Face Data (2001)

9. Methods • “As the crow flies” – reproduce results published by the Ministry of Health Services (1996 data) 2. Network Calculation(1996 data) 50km

10. Distance Analyzer Interface

12. Methods cont’d 3. Aerial and Network calculations (2001 data) • Facility tables updated • Population data at block face scale, 2001

13. Results

14. 50 km buffers of 1996 facilities: 95% within “golden hour”Black points indicate enumeration area centroids

15. Network analysis of 1996 data: 92% within the “golden hour”Black points indicate enumeration area centroids

16. 50km buffers of 2001 facilities: 91.4% within “golden hour”Black points indicate block face centroids

17. Network analysis of 2001 data: 89.6% within “golden hour”Black points indicate block face centroids

18. Comparing Network and Aerial Analysis

19. Discussion • Challenges • Georeferencing with postal codes • Accuracy of route information • Failure of Network/Enumeration Area Model • Variability of block size

20. Discussion cont’d • Policy Implications • Informing policy makers • Uncontrolled urban sprawl • More money?

21. Conclusion • The Benefits of Network Analysis • ‘Real’ distance and travel time • Can adjust for seasonality and geography • Important in rural areas where geographic barriers reduce distance-travel time correlations

22. If all ambulances could fly: putting provincial standards of emergency care access to the test in Northern British Columbia • http://www.cma.ca/index.cfm/ci_id/44834/la_id/1.htm.