{"title":"Spatial Analysis of Hospital Accessibility in Nanjing: The Role of Community Health Service Centers","authors":"Zhichang Cai, Tong Cheng, Ying Li, ChengHe Guan, Jiweng Tang","doi":"10.1007/s12061-024-09577-8","DOIUrl":null,"url":null,"abstract":"<div><p>Amidst the spectrum of medical facilities, community health service centers (CHSCs) play an important role in alleviating the burden on hospitals. However, the intricate interaction between hospitals and CHSCs in accessibility analysis is often overlooked. To fill this gap, this study employs an enhanced gravity model to evaluate spatial accessibility of hospitals, focusing on both subdistrict and CHSC levels. The findings show that tertiary hospitals, providing the highest quality medical services, are concentrated in the central districts of Nanjing. Moreover, prevailing CHSC deployment plans risk an inequitable allocation of medical resources at the subdistrict level. In response, we proposed a collaborative mechanism that synergizing hospitals and CHSCs, built on a reciprocal medical alliance referral system. Specifically, our recommendations include: (1) promoting CHSCs to engage in alleviating the patient treatment load borne by tertiary hospitals in the central districts; and (2) balancing between the quality and quantity of CHSCs in the peripheral districts to increase accessibility for small-sized CHSCs in remote locations. This study contributes to the existing literature by incorporating CHSCs into hospital accessibility analysis and refining the framework for the spatial distribution of medical facility in alignment with established policies.</p></div>","PeriodicalId":46392,"journal":{"name":"Applied Spatial Analysis and Policy","volume":"17 3","pages":"1081 - 1103"},"PeriodicalIF":2.0000,"publicationDate":"2024-04-15","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":"0","resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":null,"PeriodicalName":"Applied Spatial Analysis and Policy","FirstCategoryId":"90","ListUrlMain":"https://link.springer.com/article/10.1007/s12061-024-09577-8","RegionNum":4,"RegionCategory":"社会学","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":null,"EPubDate":"","PubModel":"","JCR":"Q3","JCRName":"ENVIRONMENTAL STUDIES","Score":null,"Total":0}
引用次数: 0
Abstract
Amidst the spectrum of medical facilities, community health service centers (CHSCs) play an important role in alleviating the burden on hospitals. However, the intricate interaction between hospitals and CHSCs in accessibility analysis is often overlooked. To fill this gap, this study employs an enhanced gravity model to evaluate spatial accessibility of hospitals, focusing on both subdistrict and CHSC levels. The findings show that tertiary hospitals, providing the highest quality medical services, are concentrated in the central districts of Nanjing. Moreover, prevailing CHSC deployment plans risk an inequitable allocation of medical resources at the subdistrict level. In response, we proposed a collaborative mechanism that synergizing hospitals and CHSCs, built on a reciprocal medical alliance referral system. Specifically, our recommendations include: (1) promoting CHSCs to engage in alleviating the patient treatment load borne by tertiary hospitals in the central districts; and (2) balancing between the quality and quantity of CHSCs in the peripheral districts to increase accessibility for small-sized CHSCs in remote locations. This study contributes to the existing literature by incorporating CHSCs into hospital accessibility analysis and refining the framework for the spatial distribution of medical facility in alignment with established policies.
期刊介绍:
Description
The journal has an applied focus: it actively promotes the importance of geographical research in real world settings
It is policy-relevant: it seeks both a readership and contributions from practitioners as well as academics
The substantive foundation is spatial analysis: the use of quantitative techniques to identify patterns and processes within geographic environments
The combination of these points, which are fully reflected in the naming of the journal, establishes a unique position in the marketplace.
RationaleA geographical perspective has always been crucial to the understanding of the social and physical organisation of the world around us. The techniques of spatial analysis provide a powerful means for the assembly and interpretation of evidence, and thus to address critical questions about issues such as crime and deprivation, immigration and demographic restructuring, retailing activity and employment change, resource management and environmental improvement. Many of these issues are equally important to academic research as they are to policy makers and Applied Spatial Analysis and Policy aims to close the gap between these two perspectives by providing a forum for discussion of applied research in a range of different contexts
Topical and interdisciplinaryIncreasingly government organisations, administrative agencies and private businesses are requiring research to support their ‘evidence-based’ strategies or policies. Geographical location is critical in much of this work which extends across a wide range of disciplines including demography, actuarial sciences, statistics, public sector planning, business planning, economics, epidemiology, sociology, social policy, health research, environmental management.
FocusApplied Spatial Analysis and Policy will draw on applied research from diverse problem domains, such as transport, policing, education, health, environment and leisure, in different international contexts. The journal will therefore provide insights into the variations in phenomena that exist across space, it will provide evidence for comparative policy analysis between domains and between locations, and stimulate ideas about the translation of spatial analysis methods and techniques across varied policy contexts. It is essential to know how to measure, monitor and understand spatial distributions, many of which have implications for those with responsibility to plan and enhance the society and the environment in which we all exist.
Readership and Editorial BoardAs a journal focused on applications of methods of spatial analysis, Applied Spatial Analysis and Policy will be of interest to scholars and students in a wide range of academic fields, to practitioners in government and administrative agencies and to consultants in private sector organisations. The Editorial Board reflects the international and multidisciplinary nature of the journal.