[Development of an Index of Social Structures to Determine the Sociostructural Need for Physicians in Outpatient Care in Brandenburg]. / Entwicklung eines Sozialstrukturindex zur Ermittlung des soziostrukturellen Versorgungsbedarfs in der ambulanten medizinischen Versorgung in Brandenburg.
Gesundheitswesen
; 85(12): 1140-1148, 2023 Dec.
Article
en De
| MEDLINE
| ID: mdl-37253364
ABSTRACT
INTRODUCTION:
Despite the growing numbers of physicians in outpatient care, continuing discussion about the planning of physician requirements suggests remaining problems in this field, which could be due to focussing on the ratio of physician to population rather than on morbidity-based evaluations. Against this background, this paper tries to depict the latent need in outpatient care, illustrates supply and demand and further tests the hypothesis that there is a relative inequality in distribution due to physicians preferring to locate in socially privileged areas in the German state of Brandenburg.METHODS:
We aggregated all data available on a small scale with potential impact on demand and examined it via principal component analysis. The generated factor was mapped together with the locations of general practitioners and specialists in general care. Using linear regressions, the number of practitioners was compared to the local index value to determine regional inequalities.RESULTS:
The PCA suggested a one factor solution; that factor was designated Social Structure Index due to its values. The mapping showed a tendency of higher index values towards the central areas of Brandenburg surrounding Berlin. Regressions of the number of practitioners against the index values revealed no significant differences between communities with high and low index values.CONCLUSION:
The extension of factors concluding the evaluation of physician demand in outpatient care confirms the problems of physician supply in rural areas, where sparse populations meet social disadvantages and poor accessibility. An underlying inequality in distribution in terms of physicians preferring socially privileged areas could not be detected.
Texto completo:
1
Colección:
01-internacional
Base de datos:
MEDLINE
Asunto principal:
Médicos Generales
/
Atención Ambulatoria
Límite:
Humans
País/Región como asunto:
Europa
Idioma:
De
Revista:
Gesundheitswesen
Asunto de la revista:
SAUDE PUBLICA
Año:
2023
Tipo del documento:
Article
País de afiliación:
Alemania