Efforts for regional medical analysis using DPC data and Quantum GIS (QGIS)

Abstract

Although hospitals were concentrated in the neighborhood of Fukui-ken Saiseikai Hospital (hereinafter referred to as this “Hospital”), a division of labor according to functions and areas of specialization in medicine were not well established among them. Consequently, a strategy was required to become the “hospital chosen by local communities.” In order to achieve such a strategic target, we created and analyzed a map of inpatient distribution by region using DPC data and a geographic information system. First, inpatients and referred inpatients were extracted by disease group in accordance with the Major Diagnostic Category, and a map of their distribution was created using mesh data or data by district. In addition, as a means of revealing distribution in surrounding areas, the locations of collaborative physicians were plotted into the mesh data that contained only the data of inpatients at the Neuroscience Center. Furthermore, a distribution map of patient concentration was created based on the mesh data to analyze how it differed from the distribution map of the number of patients. Geographic visualization by way of distribution maps enabled us to have a detailed grasp of the areas in which this Hospital had been able to provide medical services up to the present and the areas in which it can offer those services in the future. This analysis enabled us to understand the “strengths and weaknesses” of this Hospital in the regional medical collaboration, which was useful for this Hospital in setting the target for its regional medical strategy for the future.