Building a geospatial data model for humanitarian response.

Objective: An effectual emergency response effort is contingent upon the quality and timeliness of information provided to both the decision making and coordinating functions; conditions that are hard to guarantee in the urgent climate of the response effort. The purpose of this paper is to present a validated Humanitarian Data Model (HDM) that can assist in the rapid assessment of disaster needs and subsequent decision making. Substandard, inconsistent information can lead to poorly informed decisions, and subsequently, inappropriate response activities.

Primary care spatial density and nonurgent emergency department utilization: a new methodology for evaluating access to care.

Objective: To determine the spatial and demographic characteristics of pediatric patients who make nonurgent visits (NUVs) to an urban pediatric emergency department (ED). We hypothesized that the rate of NUVs would be inversely associated with the spatial density of primary care providers (PCPs).

Methods: A retrospective, cross-sectional analysis was conducted for all visits to Washington, DC's principal pediatric ED between 2003 and 2006.

Spatial accessibility to providers and vaccination compliance among children with medicaid.

Objective: We examined the relationship between spatial accessibility to pediatric immunization providers and vaccination compliance in a low-income, urban population of children.

Methods: In 2007, we accessed the Washington, DC, Immunization Information System (IIS) to collect data on the immunization statuses and residential addresses of children who were aged 19 to 35 months and had Medicaid insurance. In addition, we calculated each child's spatial accessibility to pediatric vaccination providers by assessing the provider-to-population ratio at each residential address.