Abstract:
Health-care systems represent hearty and demanding information environment that requires comprehensive infrastructure capable of addressing inadequacies in existing systems. Although several modern geo-technologies have been available for over three decades, most health-care systems and public health agencies have incorporated only a limited number of these innovative technologies into their routine practices. Understanding geo-informatics capabilities in health-care industry as a decision support system in responding to health-care challenges associated with assessment, assurance, and policy development is needed. Geographic information systems (GIS) and analyses based on GIS have become widespread and well accepted. GIS is not the complete solution to understanding the distribution of disease and the problems of public health but is an important way in which to better illuminate how humans interact with their environment to create or deter health.
Keywords: Health-care system, Public health, Geo-technologies, Geographic information system (GIS)
Introduction:
Geography is important in understanding the dynamics of health causes and spread of diseases. Any attempt to advance quality improvement in health-care requires geospatial consideration and implementation of geo-informatics science and technology system (GIS), global positioning system (GPS), and remote sensing applications. Recent progress in geo-technologies has intensified the need for evidence-based spatial decision support systems (SDSS) in health-care practices. A GIS integrates data from multiple sources, providing the ability to analyze and visualize how data relates over space and time. The use of GIS requires the creation of geospatial database, appropriate hardware and software acquired, applications developed, and all components installed, integrated and tasted before users can use it. This paper provides a snapshot of the benefits of GIS and related technologies and how they possibly use in health-care systems.
Geo-informatics in health care:
Health geo-informatics combines spatial analysis and modeling, development of geo-databases, information systems design, human-computer interaction and networking technologies to understand the relationship between people, environments, and health effects. GIS provides the opportunity of linking databases to maps, creating visual representation of statistical data, and analyzing how location influences features and health events on the earth’s surface.
Within the last decade, the world has experienced some catastrophic events that clearly provide evidence of the importance of state-of-art health information system (HIS). Compared with other public services as natural resource, urban planning and transportation, it is evident that the full capacity of GIS in health-care management has not been fully explored. There is limited evidence that GIS are being formally considered or regularly used in strategic decision-making in any major health-care planning system. Several initiatives that advocate the inclusion of GIS operations at different stages of health-care planning and management have been noticed. In 2003, GIS was recognized as an emerging information technology that can be used to enhance the ability to prepare for and respond to public health emergencies. Several organizations including the WHO are committed to support countries in the adaptation and integration of GIS within their respective health-care programmes. Successful adoption of GIS by health-care managers and policy-makers depends on understanding the spatial behaviors of health-care providers and consumers in the rapidly changing health-care landscape and how geographic information affects these dynamic relationships.
Geo-informatics in Emergency Response:
In most cases, linking emergency resources with victims creates a geo-logistical challenge. To address this challenge, an integrated Advanced Emergency Geographic Information System (AEGIS) can be developed and accessed anywhere. AEGIS allows all emergency resources to be fully coordinated as a web-based situational awareness system for use in all emergency medical services. AEGIS monitors and maps the location and status of emergencies, locates victims and emergency response personnel, and tracks other factors such as prevailing weather conditions that can impact emergency response on a real-time basis. AEGIS overlays traffic congestion and accidents on freeways to plot the fastest routes to area trauma centers. All authorized emergency responders can access AEGIS via the Web or by using a basic cell phone or in-vehicle unit.
GIS provides high quality patient care management:
Ensuring delivery of high quality care requires care givers to have the necessary accurate and timely information and the ability to visualize them at their fingertips. Hospitals that have developed patient/bed management systems that operate during non-surge periods are in a better position to provide critical information to local incident management during unanticipated disaster surges. This system facilitates capturing of vast array of information of patients’ admittance, switching rooms, discharge, and moving from in-hospital to outpatient care. On a broader scale, linking hospitals in local, statewide and multi-state systems will enable health-care capacity and the ability to adequately prepare and respond to mass-casualty events and other regional public health emergencies.
Defining suitable locations for health-care services:
Access to health care is a significant factor that contributes to a healthy population. Accessibility and utilization of health care depends largely on having the appropriate health-care resources in the right place at the right time. GIS has been used in a number of situations to estimate the optimal location for a new clinic or hospital to minimize distances potential patients need to travel taking into account existing facilities, transport provision, hourly variations in traffic volumes and population density. GIS applications demonstrate sophisticated use of health information to enhance facility utilization, improve distribution of preventive and curative care, and provide evidence-based rationale for targeted assistance and service delivery.
Resources required implementing a GIS:
Developing a GIS requires investment in computer hardware, GIS software, networking environment, data procedures, and trained staff. Staffing for a GIS programme is critical as it is not easily feasible to directly expand the local health-care staff positions to fill the GIS need. Areas where expertise is needed include GIS project management, GIS database skills, and application development. Training of the health-care workforce in general computing, database principles, and GIS are essential for increasing efficiency of use.
Conclusion:
Several dimensions of health and human services can benefit from the adoption of geo-informatics as a way of improving health and be in a better position to prevent and respond to public health emergencies. There is a need for health care systems to create new types of information that are both clinically relevant as well as place and time sensitive in response to large scale emergencies. When appropriately implemented, GIS could potentially act as a powerful evidence-based practice tool for early problem detection and solving while modifying clinically and cost-effective actions in predicting outcomes, and continually monitor and analyze changes in health-care practices.
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