Measuring national accessibility to cardiac services using geographic information systems

Neil Coffee, Dorothy Turner, Robyn A. Clark, Kerena Eckert, David Coombe, Graeme Hugo, Deborah van Gaans, David Wilkinson, Simon Stewart, Andrew A. Tonkin

Research output: Contribution to journalArticlepeer-review

35 Citations (Scopus)

Abstract

The Cardiac Access-Remoteness Index of Australia (Cardiac ARIA) used geographic information systems (GIS) to model population level, road network accessibility to cardiac services before and after a cardiac event for all (20,387) population localities in Australia., The index ranged from 1A (access to all cardiac services within 1 h driving time) to 8E (limited or no access). The methodology derived an objective geographic measure of accessibility to required cardiac services across Australia. Approximately 71% of the 2006 Australian population had very good access to acute hospital services and services after hospital discharge. This GIS model could be applied to other regions or health conditions where spatially enabled data were available.

Original languageEnglish
Pages (from-to)445-455
Number of pages11
JournalApplied Geography
Volume34
Issue number1
DOIs
Publication statusPublished or Issued - 2012
Externally publishedYes

Keywords

  • Accessibility modelling
  • Cardiac accessibility
  • GIS
  • GIS modelling
  • Health modelling

ASJC Scopus subject areas

  • Forestry
  • Geography, Planning and Development
  • General Environmental Science
  • Tourism, Leisure and Hospitality Management

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