Accessibility to general practitioners in rural South Australia. A case study using geographic information system technology

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dc.contributor.authorBamford, E.
dc.contributor.authorDunne, L.
dc.contributor.authorTaylor, D.
dc.contributor.authorSymon, B.
dc.contributor.authorHugo, G.
dc.contributor.authorWilkinson, D.
dc.date.issued1999
dc.description.abstract<h4>Objective</h4>To demonstrate the potential of GIS (geographic information system) technology and ARIA (Accessibility/Remoteness Index for Australia) as tools for medical workforce and health service planning in Australia.<h4>Design</h4>ARIA is an index of remoteness derived by measuring road distance between populated localities and service centres. A continuous variable of remoteness from 0 to 12 is generated for any location in Australia. We created a GIS, with data on location of general practitioner services in non-metropolitan South Australia derived from the database of RUMPS (Rural Undergraduate Medical Placement System), and estimated, for the 1170 populated localities in South Australia, the accessibility/inaccessibility of the 109 identified GP services.<h4>Main outcome measures</h4>Distance from populated locality to GP services.<h4>Results</h4>Distance from populated locality to GP service ranged from 0 to 677 km (mean, 58 km). In all, 513 localities (43%) had a GP service within 20 km (for the majority this meant located within the town). However, for 173 populated localities (15%), the nearest GP service was more than 80 km away. There was a strong correlation between distance to GP service and ARIA value for each locality (0.69; P < 0.05).<h4>Conclusions</h4>GP services are relatively inaccessible to many rural South Australian communities. There is potential for GIS and for ARIA to contribute to rational medical workforce and health service planning. Adding measures of health need and more detailed data on types and extent of GP services provided will allow more sophisticated planning.
dc.identifier.citationMedical Journal of Australia, 1999; 171(11):614-616
dc.identifier.doi10.5694/j.1326-5377.1999.tb123821.x
dc.identifier.issn0025-729X
dc.identifier.issn1326-5377
dc.identifier.orcidTaylor, D. [0000-0003-0692-7889]
dc.identifier.urihttp://hdl.handle.net/2440/29599
dc.language.isoen
dc.publisherAustralasian Medical Pub. Co.
dc.source.urihttps://www.mja.com.au/journal/1999/171/11/accessibility-general-practitioners-rural-south-australia
dc.subjectHumans
dc.subjectFamily Practice
dc.subjectGeography
dc.subjectDatabases, Factual
dc.subjectPhysicians
dc.subjectRural Health Services
dc.subjectPersonnel Selection
dc.subjectHealth Services Accessibility
dc.subjectSouth Australia
dc.titleAccessibility to general practitioners in rural South Australia. A case study using geographic information system technology
dc.typeJournal article
pubs.publication-statusPublished

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