Evidence map›Paper›PMID 37421651›Full record

ArticleEuropean journal of public health2023

Defining medical deserts-an international consensus-building exercise.

Monica G Brînzac, Ellen Kuhlmann, Gilles Dussault, Marius I Ungureanu, Răzvan M Cherecheș, Cătălin O Baba

Abstract readConsensus Statement
PubMed Full text at PMC Publisher
In one paragraph

Article in European journal of public health, 2023. The graph could read no effect estimate from its abstract, so it casts no vote on the map. Cited by 23 papers, 1 of them a synthesis that pooled it.

0numbers the graph read from it
0cells of the map it votes in
23citing papers in PubMed, 1 pooled it
–field-weighted citation impact
1 · What the graph read from it

What it found

Each row is one number read from the abstract, on the scale the paper reported it, with its interval. Left of the dashed line favours the treatment, right favours the comparator. Under each row is the sentence it came from. New to these charts? A ten-minute tutorial.

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.

2 · The registry

The trial behind it

Trials whose registry record cites this paper, or whose number appears in the abstract. A trial that started after this paper was published is citing it as background, not reporting it.

Neither the registry nor the abstract names a trial number. If this is a trial report, that itself is worth knowing.

3 · Its place in the literature

Who cites it

23 citing papers in PubMed, 1 synthesis or guideline pooled it.

  1. Pooled it
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  8. Addressing Medical Deserts in Europe: Lessons From a Comparative Analysis.Health expectations : an international journal of public participation in health care and health policy · 2026
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4 · The record

Corrections and comments

PubMed lists nothing against this paper. Absence here is not a guarantee, only a check that was made.

5 · Who and what money

Authors and funding

6 authors.

Monica G BrînzacDepartment of Public Health, Faculty of Political, Administrative, and Communication Sciences, Babeș-Bolyai University, Cluj-Napoca, Romania.
Ellen KuhlmannInstitute of Epidemiology, Social Medicine and Health System Research, Hannover Medical School, Hannover, Germany.
Gilles DussaultInstitute of Hygiene and Tropical Medicine, Lisbon, Portugal.
Marius I UngureanuDepartment of Public Health, Faculty of Political, Administrative, and Communication Sciences, Babeș-Bolyai University, Cluj-Napoca, Romania.
Răzvan M CherecheșDepartment of Public Health, Faculty of Political, Administrative, and Communication Sciences, Babeș-Bolyai University, Cluj-Napoca, Romania.
Cătălin O BabaDepartment of Public Health, Faculty of Political, Administrative, and Communication Sciences, Babeș-Bolyai University, Cluj-Napoca, Romania.

Funding

No grant is acknowledged in the PubMed record.

6 · The paper itself

Abstract

backgroundMedical deserts represent a pressing public health and health systems challenge. The COVID-19 pandemic further exacerbated the gap between people and health services, yet a commonly agreed definition of medical deserts was lacking. This study aims to define medical deserts through a consensus-building exercise, explaining the phenomenon to its full extent, in a manner that can apply to countries and health systems across the globe.

methodsWe used a standard Delphi exercise for the consensus-building process. The first phase consisted of one round of individual online meetings with selected key informants; the second phase comprised two rounds of surveys when a consensus was reached in January 2023. The first phase-the in-depth individual meetings-was organized online. The dimensions to include in the definition of medical deserts were identified, ranked and selected based on their recurrence and importance. The second phase-the surveys-was organized online. Finally, external validation was obtained from stakeholders via email.

resultsThe agreed definition highlight five major dimensions: 'Medical deserts are areas where population healthcare needs are unmet partially or totally due to lack of adequate access or improper quality of healthcare services caused by (i) insufficient human resources in health or (ii) facilities, (iii) long waiting times, (iv) disproportionate high costs of services or (v) other socio-cultural barriers'.

conclusionsThe five dimensions of access to healthcare: (i) insufficient human resources in health or (ii) facilities, (iii) long waiting times, (iv) disproportionate high costs of services and (v) other socio-cultural barriers-ought to be addressed to mitigate medical deserts.

Indexed as

Delivery of Health CareHealth Services AccessibilityCOVID-19Delphi TechniqueHumansPandemicsSARS-CoV-2Surveys and Questionnaires

Identifiers

PMID37421651
PMCPMC10567127

What OpenQuestion holds

Textmetadata
LicenceCC BY-NC
Read underepoch 390

Registered trials

None linked

Read under generation 80e0d062 · epoch 390. Bibliography from PubMed, PubMed Central and OpenAlex; grants from NIH RePORTER; trial links from ClinicalTrials.gov; estimates, votes and beliefs from the OpenQuestion graph.