Improving Access to Medical Clinics in Montreal
Author Information
Author(s): Ngui André Ngamini, Apparicio Philippe
Primary Institution: Douglas Mental Health University Institute
Hypothesis
The study aims to compare an optimized version of the two-step floating catchment area (2SFCA) method with the conventional method to assess spatial accessibility to medical clinics in Montreal.
Conclusion
The study concludes that optimizing the 2SFCA method significantly improves the assessment of spatial accessibility to medical clinics in Montreal.
Supporting Evidence
- The optimized method increased the spatial accessibility score significantly compared to the conventional method.
- Within 1 Km, the maximum clinic accessible for 1,000 persons increased from 2.4 to 27.7 with the optimized method.
- The study found that medical clinics are clustered in the central part of Montreal, affecting accessibility.
Takeaway
This study looks at how easy it is for people in Montreal to get to medical clinics and finds a better way to measure that access.
Methodology
The study used GIS to compute catchments around medical clinics based on network distance and weighted the supply and demand to optimize the 2SFCA method.
Potential Biases
Potential biases may arise from geocoding errors and the assumption that all residents use services equally.
Limitations
The study faces limitations such as aggregation error and the modifiable areal unit problem, which can affect the accuracy of spatial accessibility measurements.
Participant Demographics
The study focuses on the population of Montreal, which is 1,906,811 inhabitants.
Statistical Information
P-Value
p<0.05
Statistical Significance
p<0.05
Digital Object Identifier (DOI)
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