Service quality and accessibility of healthcare facilities: digital healthcare potential in Ho Chi Minh City
Abstract Background Effective delivery of health services requires adequate quality in healthcare facilities and easy accessibility to health services physically or virtually. The purpose of this study was to reveal how the quality of healthcare facilities varies across the different parts of Ho Chi...
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| Format: | Article |
| Language: | English |
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BMC
2022-11-01
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| Series: | BMC Health Services Research |
| Subjects: | |
| Online Access: | https://doi.org/10.1186/s12913-022-08758-w |
| _version_ | 1811319671642652672 |
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| author | Khanh Hung Le Thi Xuan Phuong La Markku Tykkyläinen |
| author_facet | Khanh Hung Le Thi Xuan Phuong La Markku Tykkyläinen |
| author_sort | Khanh Hung Le |
| collection | DOAJ |
| description | Abstract Background Effective delivery of health services requires adequate quality in healthcare facilities and easy accessibility to health services physically or virtually. The purpose of this study was to reveal how the quality of healthcare facilities varies across the different parts of Ho Chi Minh City and how well residents (N = 9 million) can reach healthcare facilities. By demarcating the deficiently served areas of low accessibility, the study shows where urban planning and digital healthcare could improve accessibility to health services and the quality of services efficiently. Methods The analysis utilised geocoded information on hospitals, clinics, roads and population and the data of the quality scores of healthcare facilities. Quality scores were analysed by hot spot analysis and inverse distance weighting. Accessibility and formation of travel time-based service areas by travel time distances were calculated using road network, driving speed and population data. Results The results unveiled a centripetal spatial pattern of healthcare facilities and a similar pattern in their quality. Outside the travel time of 30 min for hospitals and 15 min for clinics, the deficiently served areas have a population of 1.1 to 1.2 million. Based on the results and the evidence of digital healthcare, this paper highlights how to develop and plan spatially effective service provision. Especially, it gives grounds to discuss how cost-effective digital healthcare could be applied to improve the accessibility and quality of health services in an urban structure of extensively varying accessibility to health services. Conclusions The results bring up the need and the means for improving the quality of health services and their cost-efficient availability by location optimisation, road improvements and implementing digital healthcare provided by hospitals and clinics in the city. At the same, this study provides a multidisciplinary approach for planning more equal and efficient health service provision geographically. |
| first_indexed | 2024-04-13T12:46:48Z |
| format | Article |
| id | doaj.art-a8690482175042d890dd623f738d2807 |
| institution | Directory Open Access Journal |
| issn | 1472-6963 |
| language | English |
| last_indexed | 2024-04-13T12:46:48Z |
| publishDate | 2022-11-01 |
| publisher | BMC |
| record_format | Article |
| series | BMC Health Services Research |
| spelling | doaj.art-a8690482175042d890dd623f738d28072022-12-22T02:46:21ZengBMCBMC Health Services Research1472-69632022-11-0122111310.1186/s12913-022-08758-wService quality and accessibility of healthcare facilities: digital healthcare potential in Ho Chi Minh CityKhanh Hung Le0Thi Xuan Phuong La1Markku Tykkyläinen2Faculty of Urban Studies (FUS), University of Social Sciences and Humanities, Vietnam National University Ho Chi Minh City (VNU-HCM)HCMC Institute for Development StudiesDepartment of Geographical and Historical Studies, University of Eastern FinlandAbstract Background Effective delivery of health services requires adequate quality in healthcare facilities and easy accessibility to health services physically or virtually. The purpose of this study was to reveal how the quality of healthcare facilities varies across the different parts of Ho Chi Minh City and how well residents (N = 9 million) can reach healthcare facilities. By demarcating the deficiently served areas of low accessibility, the study shows where urban planning and digital healthcare could improve accessibility to health services and the quality of services efficiently. Methods The analysis utilised geocoded information on hospitals, clinics, roads and population and the data of the quality scores of healthcare facilities. Quality scores were analysed by hot spot analysis and inverse distance weighting. Accessibility and formation of travel time-based service areas by travel time distances were calculated using road network, driving speed and population data. Results The results unveiled a centripetal spatial pattern of healthcare facilities and a similar pattern in their quality. Outside the travel time of 30 min for hospitals and 15 min for clinics, the deficiently served areas have a population of 1.1 to 1.2 million. Based on the results and the evidence of digital healthcare, this paper highlights how to develop and plan spatially effective service provision. Especially, it gives grounds to discuss how cost-effective digital healthcare could be applied to improve the accessibility and quality of health services in an urban structure of extensively varying accessibility to health services. Conclusions The results bring up the need and the means for improving the quality of health services and their cost-efficient availability by location optimisation, road improvements and implementing digital healthcare provided by hospitals and clinics in the city. At the same, this study provides a multidisciplinary approach for planning more equal and efficient health service provision geographically.https://doi.org/10.1186/s12913-022-08758-wQualityHealthcare facilitiesAccessibilityDigital healthcareTelehealthRemote care |
| spellingShingle | Khanh Hung Le Thi Xuan Phuong La Markku Tykkyläinen Service quality and accessibility of healthcare facilities: digital healthcare potential in Ho Chi Minh City BMC Health Services Research Quality Healthcare facilities Accessibility Digital healthcare Telehealth Remote care |
| title | Service quality and accessibility of healthcare facilities: digital healthcare potential in Ho Chi Minh City |
| title_full | Service quality and accessibility of healthcare facilities: digital healthcare potential in Ho Chi Minh City |
| title_fullStr | Service quality and accessibility of healthcare facilities: digital healthcare potential in Ho Chi Minh City |
| title_full_unstemmed | Service quality and accessibility of healthcare facilities: digital healthcare potential in Ho Chi Minh City |
| title_short | Service quality and accessibility of healthcare facilities: digital healthcare potential in Ho Chi Minh City |
| title_sort | service quality and accessibility of healthcare facilities digital healthcare potential in ho chi minh city |
| topic | Quality Healthcare facilities Accessibility Digital healthcare Telehealth Remote care |
| url | https://doi.org/10.1186/s12913-022-08758-w |
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