ArticlePloS one2019
Operations research meets need related planning: Approaches for locating general practitioners' practices.
Article in PloS one, 2019. The graph could read no effect estimate from its abstract, so it casts no vote on the map. Cited by 4 papers.
What it found
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The abstract states no effect estimate the extractor could read, or names no intervention and outcome on the map, so this paper lights no cell and moves no belief. It is still indexed, cited and linked below.
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Who cites it
4 citing papers in PubMed, 4 citations in OpenAlex.
- Data in ambulatory care logistics: What modelers need and what practice can offer.Health care management science · 2025Article
- An operations research approach to automated patient scheduling for eye care using a multi-criteria decision support tool.Scientific reports · 2023Article
- A genetic algorithm-based strategic planning framework for optimising accessibility and costs of general practices in Northland, New Zealand.Health systems (Basingstoke, England) · 2023Article
- Bridging the Gap Between Competencies and Uncertainties in Postgraduate Training in Family Medicine: Results and Psychometric Properties of a Self-Assessment Questionnaire.Advances in medical education and practice · 2022Article
Corrections and comments
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Authors and funding
3 authors at 2 institutions in 1 country.
Funding
No grant is acknowledged in the PubMed record.
Abstract
backgroundIn most western countries a shortage of general practitioners (GP) exists. Newly qualified GPs often prefer to work in teams rather than in single-handed practices. Therefore, new practices offering these kinds of working conditions will be attractive in the future. From a health care point of view, the location planning of new practices will be a crucial aspect. In this work we studied solutions for locating GP practices in a defined administrative district under different objectives.
methodsUsing operations research (OR), a research discipline that originated from logistics, different possible locations of GP practices were identified for the considered district. Models were developed under two main basic requirements: that one practice can be reached by as many inhabitants as possible and to cut down the driving time for every district's inhabitant to the next practice location to less than 15 minutes. Input data included the demand (population), driving times and the current GP locations.
resultsThree different models were analysed ranging from one single practice solution to five different practices. The whole administrative district can reach the central community "A" in at most 23 minutes by car. Considering a maximum driving time of 15 minutes, locations in four different cities in the district would be sufficient.
conclusionOperations research methods can be used to determine locations for (new) GP practices. Depending on the concrete problem different models and approaches lead to varying solutions. These results must be discussed with GPs, mayors and patients to find robust locations regarding future developments.
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