Where Caring and Technology MeetA GIS for Health Care in QatarBy Dr. Noor-Amin Noorani, GIS
Coordinator for Health and
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Dr. John Snow, an English physician, is acknowledged as the first person to use mapping as a tool in the analysis of the spread of disease. In 1854, Dr. Snow was attempting to contain a cholera epidemic in London. He plotted the location of the homes of 578 people that had died of the disease, as well as the position of 13 neighboring water pumps or wells, theorizing that cholera was a water borne disease. Examining his map, he determined that most victims lived in the vicinity of the Broad Street pump. By closing the pump, Dr. Snow halted the epidemic, proved his theory about the spread of cholera, and introduced a very powerful tool in disease control and analysis.
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This map, created by John Snow in his analysis of the spread of Cholera in London in 1854, was originally published in "Snow on Cholera" by the Oxford University Press in 1936. |
GIS has become such an accepted component of health care management, that several international organizations including the United Nations and the World Health Organization are committed to support countries in the adaptation and integration of this technology within their national health programs and policies.
The current direction in the health care industry is of the expanded use of facilities and the development of new procedures, medicines, and technologies, as well as rising the average citizen's expectation of health care service. The concept of health care itself is no longer limited to patients in hospitals, but includes those in ambulatory health centers, as well as those being treated at home. Though under increasingly constrained budgets, the health care industry is simultaneously under pressure to improve efficiency as well as the quality and continuity of care.
To achieve these goals, the industry must affect a new approach in how health care is implemented and managed. Information management systems, particularly GIS can be expected to play a significant role in redirecting the emphasis in health care.
The implementation of GIS in Qatar's health system is expected to provide an entirely new approach to health care management. Currently underway is a critical evaluation and detailed documentation of clinical and business processes. The results of this user needs analysis will form the basis on which the Ministry of Health will determine which GIS applications will be developed.
A special network connecting all health care delivery outlets is planned, which will allow health care and patient information (including images, radiographs, CT scans, etc.) to be shared and accessed across hospitals, health centers, pharmacies, laboratories, etc.
The ministry also plans to make use of GISnet, a high speed fiber optic network connecting all government agencies in Qatar using GIS. By overlaying health-related information onto data available from other ministries, such as water, sanitation, and environmental information, analyses can be made to quantify spatial relationships between risk factors and disease distribution, to predict their establishment and spread, and to evaluate the effectiveness of a control strategy.
Using a unique GIS interface, every health transaction is captured in the system and geo-referenced. This will result in a GIS database that will allow us to demonstrate the spatial distribution, location diffusion, and regionalization of health care resources, access to and utilization of resources, and factors related to resource distribution and use. It will also be used to examine patient referrals and the spatial aspects of interactions between disease and health care delivery.
The many applications of GIS in the health care industry extend well beyond the interaction between geographic locations. In the future, for example, the human body could be plotted. The development of a tumor and its potential growth could be monitored and treated using a spatial information system. GIS applications for health care are endless.
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