Kurcz R, Kruger E, Tennant M
Center for Rural and Remote Oral Health, The University of Western Australia, Australia.
Community Dent Health. 2013 Sep;30(3):155-60.
Dentistry across the globe faces significant workforce issues with mal-distribution at most levels of analysis being a substantial issue. This study was the first to apply high resolution Geographic Information Systems (GIS) tools to map every private dental practice in the State of Indiana against a backdrop of population demographics. The hypothesis tested in the study is that there is an even density distribution of dental practices across Indiana.
Adult population data were obtained from the United States Census of Population and divided by census tracts. The physical address for each dental practice in Indiana was collated from a comprehensive web-based search and the two datasets were integrated using GIS tools.
The whole adult population of Indiana (5 million) was distributed across 1,511 census tracts. Across these tracts a total of 2,096 separate private general dental practices were distributed. There were a total of 679 tracts (45%) without a dental practice while 2.5% of tracts had 8 or more practices.
The practice to population ratio (1:2,384) for the whole State was not significantly different for those living within 50km (31 miles) or 25km (15 miles) of the seven major city centers, and mean personal income (by residency location) did not appear to significantly influence practice location.
全球牙科行业面临着严重的劳动力问题，在大多数分析层面上，分布不均是一个重大问题。本研究首次应用高分辨率地理信息系统（GIS）工具，以人口统计数据为背景，绘制印第安纳州的每一家私人牙科诊所的地图。本研究检验的假设是，印第安纳州各地的牙科诊所分布密度均匀。
成年人口数据来自美国人口普查，并按普查区划分。印第安纳州每家牙科诊所的实际地址通过全面的网络搜索进行整理，两个数据集使用GIS工具进行整合。
印第安纳州的全部成年人口（500万）分布在1511个普查区内。在这些普查区中，共有2096家独立的私人普通牙科诊所分布。共有679个普查区（45%）没有牙科诊所，而2.5%的普查区有8家或更多诊所。
该州整体的诊所与人口比例（1:2384），对于居住在七个主要城市中心50公里（31英里）或25公里（15英里）范围内的人来说没有显著差异，且平均个人收入（按居住地点）似乎对诊所位置没有显著影响。
