Web-based mapping software improves in-home healthcare

The use of web-based mapping via a geographic information system (GIS) can accurately illustrate community healthcare needs, and the strengths and weaknesses in the delivery of services such as homecare. "It provides us with information well beyond what we would have in our database," says Stacey Daub, senior director of client services for the Toronto Central Community Care Access Centre (CCAC). "We have wondered over time about the social determinants of health and other things that impact people’s needs and the way we service people. This opens up a whole array of showing us all of that. We can look at our clients, and have a better understanding of service needs and demands." At the annual meeting of the Canadian Home Care Association, some of Daub’s colleagues presented data on the use of GIS software. While the project examined services for palliative care in the Toronto area, the software can be used to store data on other types of healthcare, such as acute care, mental health, and rehabilitation. The software can also offer particular characteristics of a community, such as ethnic origin and the proportion of seniors. As well, the GIS software can highlight gaps in care. "We can map from client’s homes all the resources they need," says Daub. "If a client needs a close pharmacy or an outpatient rehabilitation centre, we can map where the client is compared to the services. Our care coordinators can cover geographies and better understand the make up of neighbourhoods."The initial project on end-of-life services in Toronto revealed the demand for such services to be greater in some neighbourhoods than others. Moreover, the web-mapping software also revealed a socio-economic gap in care."We found that certain parts of the city have far more end-of-life clients," says Daub. "We also saw that patients with higher incomes were more likely to die at home than those with lower incomes. We can study that and determine why that is and then determine how to make that option more accessible to other people."The software provides evidence to the funders of healthcare regarding the use of healthcare services, notes Daub. "We can do better planning and monitor our own performance and see where we should focus our resources and attention," she says. "We can be pro-active." The long-term plan is to expand the GIS project to the rest of Ontario.

Web-based mapping software improves in-home healthcare

News | February 16, 2007

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