Potential of GIS and Spatial Knowledge in Health Care and Public Safety

Author(s):  
Eilon Blanc ◽  
Iris Reychav

Geographical Information Systems (GIS) are a relatively new tool in health care services and organizations. However, health-care professionals who know how to utilize GIS and other spatial tools get a powerful decision support tool. This chapter presents an overview of the GIS and spatial simulation in the health care environment. In the first section, an introduction to the situation is provided. Then, in the second section, the key terms are introduced: access in health care, GIS, and spatial simulation. In the third section, different cases where GIS supports decision making in the health care services are shown. In the fourth section, two examples of spatial simulation are shown. Finally, future research directions and conclusions are discussed.

2012 ◽  
Vol 73 (4) ◽  
pp. 176-180
Author(s):  
Diana Stenlund

Registered dietitians (RDs) are regulated health professionals in short supply in Ontario and throughout Canada. Projected workforce studies indicate the situation will likely worsen. Accessing these nutrition specialists is an even greater concern for residents living in rural or remote regions of the province. Smaller communities are increasingly using telehealth as a way to deliver health care services and to improve access to health care professionals. The adoption of interactive videoconferencing as a telehealth application is examined as an alternative approach for accessing RDs in rural communities. While valid reasons exist for implementing videoconferencing, other issues must be considered. These include costs, technological requirements, organizational readiness, and legal and ethical concerns. Future research must fully address the concept of videoconferencing in relation to the Canadian dietetic workforce and practice requirements.


10.2196/13940 ◽  
2019 ◽  
Vol 21 (9) ◽  
pp. e13940 ◽  
Author(s):  
Lili Shang ◽  
Meiyun Zuo ◽  
Dan Ma ◽  
Qinjun Yu

Background Online health care services effectively supplement traditional medical treatment. The development of online health care services depends on sustained interactions between health care professionals (HCPs) and patients. Therefore, it is necessary to understand the demands and gains of health care stakeholders in HCP-patient online interactions and determine an agenda for future work. Objective This study aims to present a systematic review of the antecedents and consequences of HCP-patient online interactions. It seeks to reach a better understanding of why HCPs and patients are willing to interact with each other online and what the consequences of HCP-patient online interactions are for health care stakeholders. Based on this, we intend to identify the gaps in existing studies and make recommendations for future research. Methods In accordance with the PRISMA (Preferred Reporting Items for Systematic Reviews and Meta-Analyses) guidelines, a systematic retrieval was carried out from the Web of Science, PubMed, and Scopus electronic databases. The search results were confined to those papers published in English between January 1, 2000 and June 30, 2018. Selected studies were then evaluated for quality; studies that did not meet quality criteria were excluded from further analysis. Findings of the reviewed studies related to our research questions were extracted and synthesized through inductive thematic analysis. Results A total of 8440 records were found after the initial search, 28 papers of which were selected for analysis. Accessibility to HCPs, self-management, and unmet needs were the main triggers for patients to participate in online interaction. For HCPs, patient education, career needs, and self-promotion were the major reasons why they took the online approach. There were several aspects of the consequences of HCP-patient online interactions on health care stakeholders. Consequences for patients included patient empowerment, health promotion, and acquisition of uncertain answers. Consequences for HCPs included social and economic returns, lack of control over their role, and gaining more appointments. HCP-patient online interactions also improved communication efficiency in offline settings and helped managers of online health care settings get a better understanding of patients’ needs. Health care stakeholders have also encountered ethical and legal issues during online interaction. Conclusions Through a systematic review, we sought out the antecedents and consequences of HCP-patient online interactions to understand the triggers for HCPs and patients to participate and the consequences of participating. Potential future research topics are the influences on the chain of online interaction, specifications and principles of privacy design within online health care settings, and roles that sociodemographic and psychological characteristics play. Longitudinal studies and the adoption of text-mining method are worth encouraging. This paper is expected to contribute to the sustained progress of online health care settings.


2019 ◽  
Author(s):  
Lili Shang ◽  
Meiyun Zuo ◽  
Dan Ma ◽  
Qinjun Yu

BACKGROUND Online health care services effectively supplement traditional medical treatment. The development of online health care services depends on sustained interactions between health care professionals (HCPs) and patients. Therefore, it is necessary to understand the demands and gains of health care stakeholders in HCP-patient online interactions and determine an agenda for future work. OBJECTIVE This study aims to present a systematic review of the antecedents and consequences of HCP-patient online interactions. It seeks to reach a better understanding of why HCPs and patients are willing to interact with each other online and what the consequences of HCP-patient online interactions are for health care stakeholders. Based on this, we intend to identify the gaps in existing studies and make recommendations for future research. METHODS In accordance with the PRISMA (Preferred Reporting Items for Systematic Reviews and Meta-Analyses) guidelines, a systematic retrieval was carried out from the Web of Science, PubMed, and Scopus electronic databases. The search results were confined to those papers published in English between January 1, 2000 and June 30, 2018. Selected studies were then evaluated for quality; studies that did not meet quality criteria were excluded from further analysis. Findings of the reviewed studies related to our research questions were extracted and synthesized through inductive thematic analysis. RESULTS A total of 8440 records were found after the initial search, 28 papers of which were selected for analysis. Accessibility to HCPs, self-management, and unmet needs were the main triggers for patients to participate in online interaction. For HCPs, patient education, career needs, and self-promotion were the major reasons why they took the online approach. There were several aspects of the consequences of HCP-patient online interactions on health care stakeholders. Consequences for patients included patient empowerment, health promotion, and acquisition of uncertain answers. Consequences for HCPs included social and economic returns, lack of control over their role, and gaining more appointments. HCP-patient online interactions also improved communication efficiency in offline settings and helped managers of online health care settings get a better understanding of patients’ needs. Health care stakeholders have also encountered ethical and legal issues during online interaction. CONCLUSIONS Through a systematic review, we sought out the antecedents and consequences of HCP-patient online interactions to understand the triggers for HCPs and patients to participate and the consequences of participating. Potential future research topics are the influences on the chain of online interaction, specifications and principles of privacy design within online health care settings, and roles that sociodemographic and psychological characteristics play. Longitudinal studies and the adoption of text-mining method are worth encouraging. This paper is expected to contribute to the sustained progress of online health care settings.


Healthcare ◽  
2021 ◽  
Vol 9 (5) ◽  
pp. 528
Author(s):  
Cristian Lieneck ◽  
Brooke Herzog ◽  
Raven Krips

The delivery of routine health care during the COVID-19 global pandemic continues to be challenged as public health guidelines and other local/regional/state and other policies are enforced to help prevent the spread of the virus. The objective of this systematic review is to identify the facilitators and barriers affecting the delivery of routine health care services during the pandemic to provide a framework for future research. In total, 32 articles were identified for common themes surrounding facilitators of routine care during COVID-19. Identified constructed in the literature include enhanced education initiatives for parents/patients regarding routine vaccinations, an importance of routine vaccinations as compared to the risk of COVID-19 infection, an enhanced use of telehealth resources (including diagnostic imagery) and identified patient throughput/PPE initiatives. Reviewers identified the following barriers to the delivery of routine care: conservation of medical providers and PPE for non-routine (acute) care delivery needs, specific routine care services incongruent the telehealth care delivery methods, and job-loss/food insecurity. Review results can assist healthcare organizations with process-related challenges related to current and/or future delivery of routine care and support future research initiatives as the global pandemic continues.


2020 ◽  
Vol 23 (2) ◽  
pp. 160-171
Author(s):  
Rachel Fisher ◽  
Jasneet Parmar ◽  
Wendy Duggleby ◽  
Peter George J. Tian ◽  
Wonita Janzen ◽  
...  

Introduction Family caregivers (FCGs) play an integral, yet often invisible, role in the Canadian health-care system. As the population ages, their presence will become even more essential as they help balance demands on the system and enable community dwelling seniors to remain so for as long as possible. To preserve their own well-being and capacity to provide ongoing care, FCGs require support to the meet the challenges of their daily caregiving responsibilities. Supporting FCGs results in better care provision to community-dwelling seniors receiving health-care services, as well as enhancing the quality of life for FCGs. Although FCGs rely upon health-care professionals (HCPs) to provide them with support and services, there is a paucity of research pertaining to the type of health workforce training (HWFT) that HCPs should receive to address FCG needs. Programs that train HCPs to engage with, empower, and support FCGs are required. Objective To describe and discuss key findings of a caregiver symposium focused on determining components of HWFT that might better enable HCPs to support FCGs. Methods A one-day symposium was held on February 22, 2018 in Edmonton, Alberta, to gather the perspectives of FCGs, HCPs, and stakeholders. Attendees participated in a series of working groups to discuss barriers, facilitators, and recommendations related to HWFT. Proceedings and working group discussions were transcribed, and a qualitative thematic analysis was conducted to identify key themes. Results Participants identified the following topic areas as being essential to training HCPs in the provision of support for FCGs: understanding the FCG role, communicating with FCGs, partnering with FCGs, fostering FCG resilience, navigating healthcare systems and accessing resources, and enhancing the culture and context of care. Conclusions FCGs require more support than is currently being provided by HCPs. Training programs need to specifically address topics identified by participants. These findings will be used to develop HWFT for HCPs.


2015 ◽  
pp. 132-151
Author(s):  
Sunilkumar S. Manvi ◽  
Manjula R. B.

Although the present technology has aided in development of high-technology-based disease detection machines, potential medicines and devices, the well-being of the individual remains a challenge. Human beings are struggling to control diseases such as Parkinson's disease, Alzheimer's disease, asthma, hypertension, insomnia, heart disease, and diabetes due to non-availability of patient's real-time data for comprehensive study and analysis. Smart health centre environments represent the evolutionary developmental step towards intelligent health care. The Wireless Sensor Network (WSN) with pervasive and ubiquitous computing may be a solution for this predicament. WSNs are a key technology for ambient assisted living. The concept of WSN is used to measure the various health parameters like blood pressure, blood clot, allergy, ECG, cholesterol, RBCs, etc. In this chapter, the authors highlight the importance of WSNs with respect to health care services and discuss some of its challenging applications for diseases like Parkinson's, Alzheimer's, asthma, and heart disease. They delineate the challenges that researchers face in this area that may lead to future research.


2007 ◽  
Vol 30 (1) ◽  
pp. 38-41 ◽  
Author(s):  
Sergio Ishara ◽  
Marina Bandeira ◽  
Antonio Waldo Zuardi

OBJECTIVE: To investigate the satisfaction of health-care professionals in inpatient and outpatient psychiatric hospitals of a Brazilian medium-sized city. METHOD: The study evaluated 136 health-care professionals from six hospitals; of which two were outpatient hospitals, two general hospitals, and two psychiatric hospitals. All professionals answered the Brazilian Mental Health Services' Staff Satisfaction Scale. RESULTS: An average satisfaction score of 3.26 was observed, which is situated between indifference (level 3) and satisfaction (level 4). Factors "service quality" (3.48) and "relationships at work" (3.48) showed higher scores compared to "service participation" (3.20) and "work conditions" (2.97) (p < 0.001). The female patient unit in the psychiatric hospital presented lower satisfaction scores (p < 0.001). Satisfaction was higher in the category "technicians" compared to "physicians" and "nurses" (p = 0.004). Moreover, day workers reported higher satisfaction compared to night workers regarding "service quality" and "service participation" (Student's t, p = 0.01 and p = 0.007). DISCUSSION AND CONCLUSION: Results show an intermediate level between indifference and satisfaction with services, with higher scores regarding care provided to the patients. Comparisons among the studied facilities revealed the numerous factors involved in determining one's satisfaction. They suggest advancements and reform measures likely to occur in the region's psychiatric health-care services. Monitoring satisfaction proved useful in predicting service quality improvements.


Author(s):  
Elina Weiste ◽  
Sari Käpykangas ◽  
Lise-Lotte Uusitalo ◽  
Melisa Stevanovic

Contemporary social and health care services exhibit a significant movement toward increasing client involvement in their own care and in the development of services. This major cultural change represents a marked shift in the client’s role from a passive patient to an active empowered agent. We draw on interaction-oriented focus group research and conversation analysis to study workshop conversations in which social and health care clients and professionals discussed “client involvement”. Our analysis focuses on the participants’ mutually congruent or discrepant views on the topic. The professionals and clients both saw client involvement as an ideal that should be promoted. Although both participant groups considered the clients’ experience of being heard a prerequisite of client involvement, the clients deviated from the professionals in that they also highlighted the need for actual decision-making power. However, when the professionals invoked the clients’ responsibility for their own treatment, the clients were not eager to agree with their view. In addition, in analyzing problems of client involvement during the clients’ and professionals’ meta-talk about client involvement, the paper also shows how the “client involvement” rhetoric itself may, paradoxically, sometimes serve to hinder here-and-now client involvement.


2011 ◽  
Vol 17 (4) ◽  
pp. 362 ◽  
Author(s):  
Sarah Larkins ◽  
Tarun Sen Gupta ◽  
Rebecca Evans ◽  
Richard Murray ◽  
Robyn Preston

Attention to the inequitable distribution and limited access to primary health care resources is key to addressing the priority health needs of underserved populations in rural, remote and outer metropolitan areas. There is little high-quality evidence about improving access to quality primary health care services for underserved groups, particularly in relation to geographic barriers, and limited discussion about the training implications of reforms to improve access. To progress equity in access to primary health care services, health professional education institutions need to work with both the health sector and policy makers to address issues of workforce mix, recruitment and retention, and new models of primary health care delivery. This requires a fundamental shift in focus from these institutions and the health sector, to each view themselves as partners in an integrated teaching, research and service-oriented health system. This paper discusses the challenges and opportunities for primary health care professionals, educators and the health sector in providing quality teaching and clinical experiences for increasing numbers of health professionals as a result of the reform agenda. It then outlines some practical strategies based on theory and evolving experience for dealing with some of these challenges and capitalising on opportunities.


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