School of Psychology and Public Health, La Trobe University, Victoria.
The Hopkins Centre, Menzies Health Institute Queensland, Griffith University, Queensland.
Aust N Z J Public Health. 2021 Dec;45(6):628-636. doi: 10.1111/1753-6405.13154. Epub 2021 Oct 28.
In Australia, people residing remotely typically experience increased travel time to health services, and remote health services often have unfavourable population-to-provider ratios. The state of Victoria was treated as a case study and a spatial analysis investigated the impact of severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2 (SARS-CoV-2) point-of-care-test (POCT) site location (Major City, Inner Regional or Outer Regional) on the mean travel time for closest residents and the number of closest residents.
A network analysis established the travel time from every mesh block in Victoria to the closest POCT site. Inferential analyses investigated the impact of POCT site location on travel time and the number of closest residents.
Compared to urban locations, the mean travel time for closest residents to rural POCT sites was significantly higher, while rural POCT sites had significantly fewer residents to service.
Findings confirm Australian health service literature suggesting that rural regions have poorer proximate availability of health services, while also contrasting to literature indicating that Australian rural regions have fewer health services per capita. Implications for public health: Localities within outer regional Victoria are candidates for a localised response to reduce unnecessary travel. Employing innovative service models may improve health service access and use and reduce population-to-provider ratios in rural locations.
在澳大利亚,居住在偏远地区的人通常需要花费更多的时间前往医疗机构,而偏远地区的医疗服务往往存在着不利于医患比例的情况。维多利亚州被视为一个案例研究对象,空间分析调查了严重急性呼吸系统综合症冠状病毒 2(SARS-CoV-2)即时检验(POCT)点的位置(主要城市、内部区域或外部区域)对最近居民的平均出行时间和最近居民数量的影响。
网络分析确定了维多利亚州每个网格块到最近的 POCT 点的出行时间。推理分析调查了 POCT 点位置对出行时间和最近居民数量的影响。
与城市地点相比,农村 POCT 点最近居民的平均出行时间明显更高,而农村 POCT 点可供服务的居民数量明显较少。
研究结果证实了澳大利亚卫生服务文献表明,农村地区的卫生服务就近可得性较差,而这与文献表明澳大利亚农村地区人均卫生服务较少的观点形成了对比。对公共卫生的影响:维多利亚州外区域的地方是采取本地化措施减少不必要旅行的候选地。采用创新的服务模式可能会改善卫生服务的可及性和使用,并降低农村地区的医患比例。