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- Title
Travel patterns for government emergency dental care in Australia: a new approach using GIS tools.
- Authors
McGuire, S; Kruger, E; Tennant, M
- Abstract
Background: Government subsidized dental care is provided as a community safety-net to complement the private dental sector. The aim of this study was to detail the geographic catchment characteristics of three outer metropolitan government dental clinics. Methods: Three outer metropolitan dental clinics with the greatest number of geocoded triage patients were selected for the study. In total these three facilities had 5742 patients over the 12-week period with 2010 at clinic A, 1278 at clinic B and 2454 at clinic C. Cumulative proportions of patients' residential address locations at distances were calculated; there was close correlation between the three clinics. A best fit curve with a correlation coefficient of 0.998 was developed. Results: In summary, approximately 50% of patients were within 6 km of the clinic and 75% were within 10 km. Conclusions: This study has critical outcomes for the planning of future services in developing a network model for care. The data presented will assist in the development of more evidence-based approaches to planning new service network structures.
- Subjects
AUSTRALIA; DENTAL care; DENTISTRY; DENTAL clinics; PREVENTIVE dentistry; MANAGED dental care; TOOTH care &; hygiene
- Publication
Australian Dental Journal, 2011, Vol 56, Issue 4, p389
- ISSN
0045-0421
- Publication type
Article
- DOI
10.1111/j.1834-7819.2011.01371.x