Unit 1 Introduction to healthcare systems
This is the first unit in the module ‘GIS for Health Care Management’. This unit introduces health care planning and management in an international context, exploring a range of different health care delivery models. It is important to understand that the health care system varies in important respects between countries and very diverse models – particularly based on public and private funding – can be found in otherwise comparable nations. There are major differences between health care systems in the developed and less developed world but the mixture of economic models, stages of development and medical and welfare traditions is extremely complex. The result is that great care is required in transferring models and concepts of the health care system from one country to another and any GIS analysis of the health care system must be sensitive to the local organization of care. Academic study of the geography of health has traditionally been divided between two traditions – firstly concerned with the causes and spread of disease and secondly with the organisation and use of health care services. The methods and examples covered in this module ‘GIS for Health Care Management’ deal primarily with the second of these. GIS can play an important role in many aspects of health analysis, but should not be applied without recognition of contextual factors such as the interests of different agencies and the value-laden nature of standard definitions.
This unit comprises 4 learning objects:
- Different health care delivery models
- Market vs welfare health care systems
- The role of other providers
- The purposes of health care planning
‘Different health care delivery models’ identifies a range of different models for the organization of health care delivery.
‘Market vs welfare health care systems’ develops these ideas further and begins to explore the differences in the spatial organization of care which may result from different organizational models.
‘The role of other providers’ presents a broad overview of the sources of health and social care which will generally extend beyond the formal health care system. A full understanding of the operation of the health care system is only possible when its scope and context are known. For example the role of family members, traditional healers and faith-based communities in the provision of health education and care will vary widely between national settings and will interact with the formal health care system in different ways.
‘The purposes of health care planning’ reviews a range of organizational tasks undertaken as part of health care systems and begins to identify those in which spatial analysis can play a significant part.
Expect to spend about 1 week working through these materials. The learning objects in this introductory unit can be taken in any order, but it is strongly recommended that you complete this unit before proceeding with the remainder of the module ‘GIS for Health Care Management’.