Results & Publications
Deliverables
- Several dimensions are defined in the literature to identify an area as a medical desert. Next to geographical distances and travel times to health facilities, demographic, social or health characteristics of the population and the health workforce to population ratio are used.
- Based on the literature, survey data and stakeholder consultations in five different countries, we selected and specified four key dimensions as most distinctive to construct a first taxonomy of medical deserts: (1) % of population 65+, (2) economic resources of the population; (3) travel time to public health facilities by public transport, (4) population-provider ratio.
- The first version of the ROUTE-HWF medical desert taxonomy is based on unique combinations of the four dimensions, identifying 15 different types of medical deserts, each of which might require different approaches and solutions for desertification.
- In a separate ROUTE-HWF report, we build upon the first version of the medical desert taxonomy and propose a set of guidelines to measure and monitor the four key dimensions: (1) % of population 65+, (2) economic resources of the population; (3) travel time to public health facilities by public transport, (4) population-provider ratio.
- Different data sources, methods and indicators are needed to apply the taxonomy, i.e. to (a) identify, (b) measure and (c) monitor medical desert areas within and across countries.
- The set of guidelines provides a first operationalization of the ROUTE-HWF medical desert taxonomy, which will be tested across different European countries and areas.
Publications
Dubas-Jakóbczyk, K., Gonzalez, A.I., Domagała, A., Astier-Peña, M.P., Casado Vicente, V., Planet, A-G., Quadrado, A., Serrano, R.M., Abellán, I.S., Ramos, A., Ballester, M., Seils, L., Dan, S., Flinterman, L., Likic, R. and Batenburg, R. (2024) Medical deserts in Spain—Insights from an international project, International Journal of Health Planning and Management, pp. 1‐14, Open access, https://doi.org/10.1002/hpm.3782
Flinterman, L. E., González-González, A. I., Seils, L., Bes, J., Ballester, M., Bañeres, J., Dan, S., Domagała, A., Dubas-Jakóbczyk, K., Likic, R., Kroezen, M., Batenburg, R. (2023). ‘Characteristics of Medical Deserts and Approaches to Mitigate Their Health Workforce Issues: A Scoping Review of Empirical Studies in Western Countries’, International Journal of Health Policy and Management, Early view, DOI: https://dx.doi.org/10.34172/ijhpm.2023.7454, https://www.ijhpm.com/article_4458.html, Open access
Marcec, R., Seils, L., González-González, A. I., Dubas-Jakóbczyk, K., Domagała, A., Dan, S., Flinterman, L., Likic, R., Batenburg, R. (2023). ‘Tackling Medical Deserts: Unearthing Factors that Influence Medical Students’ Attitudes and the Path Forward’, Postgraduate Medical Journal, https://doi.org/10.1093/postmj/qgad042
Flinterman, L., González-González, A. I., Seils, L., Dan, S.,., Likic, R., Domagała, A., Dubas-Jakóbczyk, K., Batenburg, R. (2023). ‘How to solve the problem of medical deserts in Europe?’, Poster presentation at the 23rdInternational Conference on Integrated Care, 22-24 May, Antwerp
Bes, J.M., Flinterman, L.E., González, A.I., Batenburg, R.S. (2023). Recruitment and retention of general practitioners in European medical deserts: a systematic review. Rural and Remote Health, 23(1), Open access.
Seils, L., Flinterman, L., González-González, A.I., Bes, J., Ballester, M., Dan, S., Domagała, A., Dubas-Jakóbczyk, K., Likic, R., Kroezen, M., Batenburg, R. (2023) Characteristics of medical deserts and approaches to mitigate them: a scoping review, Rural and Remote Health, 23(1), Open access.
Subscribe to the newsletter
