Unit 9 Special topics
This is the ninth unit in the module ‘GIS for Health Care Management’. The objects in this unit deal with a series of healthcare applications that are different in kind from those we have considered so far. Some types of health service are rather different to those which involve direct provision of physical health care facilities because they are concerned to deliver information or preventive services directly to the population served, where the initiative for the intervention is generated by the health care system itself. Unlike medical care which is delivered in response to patients seeking help, vaccination and screening services are sometimes delivered as part of an overall strategy for preventive health care. The specific applications of GIS in each of the following services will vary significantly according to levels of economic development and the population information available, but the underlying objectives and principles are common.
- Healthcare planning for emergencies
- Vaccination programmes
- Screening programmes
‘Healthcare planning for emergencies’ considers the particular issues involved in planning for emergencies, where there may be a sudden upsurge in case loads and where health facilities and professionals themselves may be affected by a natural hazard or other emergency.
‘Vaccination programmes’ considers the delivery of vaccination to target populations. Vaccination programmes targeted at infectious diseases are generally reliant on achieving high levels of population coverage in order to achieve the desired results, with very high levels of ‘herd immunity’ required in order to prevent epidemic outbreaks. In developing countries the major objectives may be to organize vaccination campaigns in such a way as to achieve sufficient population penetration, while in the developing world strategies may be more focused on identifying those population groups in which compliance falls as awareness of epidemic risk is lessened, or because of adverse publicity associated with specific vaccination products. Vaccination programmes, by their very nature, must be delivered extremely locally if the necessary population proportions are to be achieved.
‘Screening programmes’ considers the identification of specific population sub-groups for screening services and the ways in which this can result both in campaigns to reach specific population groups and the delivery of screening services. This may take the form of geographically targeted campaigning for members of the population to take part in screening, where levels of underdiagnosis are likely to be high, or to inform the geographical organization of screening services so as to maximise accessibility and compliance. The use of more advanced screening technologies may require the use of mobile services or multi-stage screening strategies in which initial screening is carried out as locally as possible.
Expect to spend about 1 week working through these materials. These activities can be undertaken in any order.