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The 130th Annual Meeting of APHA |
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The 130th Annual Meeting of APHA |
Daria Boccher-Lattimore, DrPH, Center for Family Medicine, Columbia University, 630 West 168th Street, VC 12-217, New York, NY 10032, 212 305-9107, dmb82@columbia.edu
Integrating spatial data via geographical information systems (GIS) with clinical data provides for detailed accessibility measures of health services data and can facilitate planning and evaluation of health systems.
This pilot study was conducted to explore the use of GIS in analyzing the utilization of Emergency Department (ED) services by adolescents. A secondary analysis of data from the clinical data warehouse of Columbia Presbyterian Medical Center was conducted. The medical center has three ED and 10 ambulatory care sites in the Washington Heights section of Manhattan, a medically underserved area. Geographical epidemiological analyses of ED visits during January of 1998 by adolescents aged 12 through 18 were conducted.
Analyses of both mutable and immutable system and patient factors associated with the use of the ED were conducted and maps incorporating these factors were produced. Valid addresses were obtained and geocoding was possible in 80% of the visits. Adolescents composed 15% of all ED visits (n=349). The majority of adolescents resided in the immediate catchment areas of the hospital's ambulatory care sites. Visits were equally distributed among the days of the week and 42% of visits occurred between the hours of 9am and 5pm. Over half (58.2%) were female; 69.3% were insured by Medicaid. Significant differences in utilization patterns by gender were found and mapped separately. Overall, girls were slightly older than the boys. Most frequent reason of use of ED by girls was for obstetrics/genitourinary reasons (25%) and injury visits were most frequent (39.7%) for boys.
Learning Objectives:
Keywords: Adolescents, Emergency Department/Room
Presenting author's disclosure statement:
Organization/institution whose products or services will be discussed: New York Presbyterian Hospital- Columbia Campus
I have a significant financial interest/arrangement or affiliation with any organization/institution whose products or services are being discussed in this session.
Relationship: Director of Research for the Family Medicine Residency