Is there an association between spatial accessibility of outpatient care and utilization? Analysis of gynecological and general care.

Background: In rural regions with a low population density, distances to health care providers as well as insufficient public transport may be barriers for the accessibility of health care. In this analysis it was examined whether the accessibility of gynecologists and GPs, measured as travel time both by car and public transport has an influence on the utilization of health care in the rural region of Western Pomerania in Northern Germany.

Methods: Utilization data was obtained from the population based Study of Health in Pomerania (SHIP).

Toolbox for Research, or how to facilitate a central data management in small-scale research projects.

Background: In most research projects budget, staff and IT infrastructures are limiting resources. Especially for small-scale registries and cohort studies professional IT support and commercial electronic data capture systems are too expensive. Consequently, these projects use simple local approaches (e.

Accessibility of general practitioners and selected specialist physicians by car and by public transport in a rural region of Germany.

Background: The accessibility of medical care facilities in sparsely populated rural regions is relevant especially for elderly people which often represent a large segment of the population in such regions. Elderly people have higher morbidity risks and a higher demand for medical care. Although travelling with private cars is the dominating traffic mode in rural regions, accessibility by public transport is increasingly important especially because of limited mobility of elderly people.

Improving hospital hygiene to reduce the impact of multidrug-resistant organisms in health care--a prospective controlled multicenter study.

Background: Nosocomial infections are the most common complication during inpatient hospital care. An increasing proportion of these infections are caused by multidrug-resistant organisms (MDROs). This report describes an intervention study which was designed to address the practical problems encountered in trying to avoid and treat infections caused by MDROs.

A workflow-driven approach to integrate generic software modules in a Trusted Third Party.

Background: Cohort studies and registries rely on massive amounts of personal medical data. Therefore, data protection and information security as well as ethical aspects gain in importance and need to be considered as early as possible during the establishment of a study. Resulting legal and ethical obligations require a precise implementation of appropriate technical and organisational measures for a Trusted Third Party.

A mobile and asynchronous electronic data capture system for epidemiologic studies.

A Central Data Management (CDM) system based on electronic data capture (EDC) software and study specific databases is an essential component for assessment and management of large data volumes in epidemiologic studies. Conventional CDM systems using web applications for data capture depend on permanent access to a network. However, in many study settings permanent network access cannot be guaranteed, e.