IDEAS home Printed from https://ideas.repec.org/a/gam/jijerp/v19y2022i15p9432-d877821.html
   My bibliography  Save this article

Analysis of the Elderly’s Preferences for Choosing Medical Service Facilities from the Perspective of Accessibility: A Case Study of Tertiary General Hospitals in Hefei, China

Author

Listed:
  • Zao Li

    (College of Architecture and Art, Hefei University of Technology, Hefei 230009, China)

  • Yanyan Gao

    (College of Architecture and Art, Hefei University of Technology, Hefei 230009, China)

  • Li Yu

    (College of Architecture and Art, Hefei University of Technology, Hefei 230009, China
    School of Geography and Planning, Cardiff University, Cardiff CF24 3WA, UK)

  • Charles L. Choguill

    (School of Public Affairs, Zhejiang University, Hangzhou 310018, China)

  • Weiyi Cui

    (College of Architecture and Art, Hefei University of Technology, Hefei 230009, China)

Abstract

The accessibility of medical service facilities is a vital influence on elderly people choosing medical treatment. Encouraging residents to seek nearby medical treatment can facilitate the rational layout and diversion of urban medical facilities and reduce health resource waste. However, due to accessibility factors, elderly people may not choose the nearest hospital. In order to investigate such factors, we conducted a questionnaire survey among the elderly from 10 tertiary general hospitals in Hefei, China. On the basis of the origin-destination (OD) cost matrix analysis and statistical analysis of 830 valid questionnaires, this paper analyzed the elders’ selection rules when choosing medical facilities and the factors considered when making a choice. The study found that although 85% of elderly participants valued a short distance to tertiary hospitals, only 31% of them attended the closest hospitals in reality, which correlated with regularity according to their education level, travel activity status, and place of residence. The elderly highlighted road congestion, convenience of public transport stations, and number of transfers as critical in determining whether they sought nearby medical treatment. According to the results, effective ways to encourage the elderly to attend their nearest hospital, from the perspective of accessibility, include easing road congestion, improving the layout of public transport stations, and optimizing urban public transport routes. In particular, when planning future medical facilities, attention should be paid to the elderly with primary school education or below, who cannot travel independently, and those who live far from the city center.

Suggested Citation

  • Zao Li & Yanyan Gao & Li Yu & Charles L. Choguill & Weiyi Cui, 2022. "Analysis of the Elderly’s Preferences for Choosing Medical Service Facilities from the Perspective of Accessibility: A Case Study of Tertiary General Hospitals in Hefei, China," IJERPH, MDPI, vol. 19(15), pages 1-23, August.
    • Handle: RePEc:gam:jijerp:v:19:y:2022:i:15:p:9432-:d:877821
    as

    Download full text from publisher

    File URL: https://www.mdpi.com/1660-4601/19/15/9432/pdf
    Download Restriction: no
    File URL: https://www.mdpi.com/1660-4601/19/15/9432/
    Download Restriction: no
    ---><---

    References listed on IDEAS

    as
    1. Yan Zhang & Wenxi Tang & Xiang Zhang & Yaoguang Zhang & Liang Zhang, 2015. "National Health Insurance Development in China from 2004 to 2011: Coverage versus Benefits," PLOS ONE, Public Library of Science, vol. 10(5), pages 1-10, May.
    2. Wachs, Martin & Kumagai, T. Gordon, 1973. "Physical accessibility as a social indicator," Socio-Economic Planning Sciences, Elsevier, vol. 7(5), pages 437-456, October.
    3. Hai Yang & Qiang Meng & Michael G. H. Bell, 2001. "Simultaneous Estimation of the Origin-Destination Matrices and Travel-Cost Coefficient for Congested Networks in a Stochastic User Equilibrium," Transportation Science, INFORMS, vol. 35(2), pages 107-123, May.
    Full references (including those not matched with items on IDEAS)

    Most related items

    These are the items that most often cite the same works as this one and are cited by the same works as this one.
    1. Rayaprolu, Hema & Levinson, David, 2024. "Co-evolution of public transport access and ridership," Journal of Transport Geography, Elsevier, vol. 116(C).
    2. Mengying Cui & David Levinson, 2018. "Accessibility analysis of risk severity," Transportation, Springer, vol. 45(4), pages 1029-1050, July.
    3. Daniel Oviedo & Lynn Scholl & Marco Innao & Lauramaria Pedraza, 2019. "Do Bus Rapid Transit Systems Improve Accessibility to Job Opportunities for the Poor? The Case of Lima, Peru," Sustainability, MDPI, vol. 11(10), pages 1-24, May.
    4. Cervero, Robert, 2005. "Accessible Cities and Regions: A Framework for Sustainable Transport and Urbanism in the 21st Century," Institute of Transportation Studies, Research Reports, Working Papers, Proceedings qt27g2q0cx, Institute of Transportation Studies, UC Berkeley.
    5. Mayaud, Jerome & Tran, Martino & Pereira, Rafael H. M. & Nuttall, Rohan, 2018. "Future access to essential services in a growing smart city: The case of Surrey, British Columbia," SocArXiv pej8u_v1, Center for Open Science.
    6. Dong, Xiaojing & Ben-Akiva, Moshe E. & Bowman, John L. & Walker, Joan L., 2006. "Moving from trip-based to activity-based measures of accessibility," Transportation Research Part A: Policy and Practice, Elsevier, vol. 40(2), pages 163-180, February.
    7. Jiang, Yawen & Ni, Weiyi, 2020. "Impact of supplementary private health insurance on hospitalization and physical examination in China," China Economic Review, Elsevier, vol. 63(C).
    8. Mondschein, Andrew & Taylor, Brian D & Brumbaugh, Stephen, 2010. "Congestion And Accessibility: What’S The Relationship?," University of California Transportation Center, Working Papers qt8135b0jh, University of California Transportation Center.
    9. Rezaei, Nazanin & Todd-Blick, Annika & Fujita, K. Sydny & Popovich, Natalie & Needell, Zachary & Poliziani, Cristian & Caicedo, Juan David & Guirado, Carlos & Spurlock, C. Anna, 2024. "At the nexus of equity and transportation modeling: Assessing accessibility through the Individual Experienced Utility-Based Synthesis (INEXUS) metric," Journal of Transport Geography, Elsevier, vol. 115(C).
    10. Caggiani, Leonardo & Camporeale, Rosalia & Ottomanelli, Michele, 2017. "Facing equity in transportation Network Design Problem: A flexible constraints based model," Transport Policy, Elsevier, vol. 55(C), pages 9-17.
    11. Meina Zheng & Feng Liu & Xiucheng Guo & Xinyue Lei, 2019. "Assessing the Distribution of Commuting Trips and Jobs-Housing Balance Using Smart Card Data: A Case Study of Nanjing, China," Sustainability, MDPI, vol. 11(19), pages 1-19, September.
    12. Li, Shengxiao (Alex) & Duan, Hongyu (Anna) & Smith, Tony E. & Hu, Haoyu, 2021. "Time-varying accessibility to senior centers by public transit in Philadelphia," Transportation Research Part A: Policy and Practice, Elsevier, vol. 151(C), pages 245-258.
    13. Jinjoo Bok & Youngsang Kwon, 2016. "Comparable Measures of Accessibility to Public Transport Using the General Transit Feed Specification," Sustainability, MDPI, vol. 8(3), pages 1-13, March.
    14. Li, Guoyuan & Chen, Anthony, 2022. "Frequency-based path flow estimator for transit origin-destination trip matrices incorporating automatic passenger count and automatic fare collection data," Transportation Research Part E: Logistics and Transportation Review, Elsevier, vol. 163(C).
    15. Davidson, Joshua H. & Ryerson, Megan S., 2021. "Modeling regional disparity and the reverse commute," Transportation Research Part A: Policy and Practice, Elsevier, vol. 150(C), pages 124-139.
    16. Ahmed El-Geneidy & David Levinson, 2011. "Place Rank: Valuing Spatial Interactions," Networks and Spatial Economics, Springer, vol. 11(4), pages 643-659, December.
    17. Yukuan Dong & Xi Chen & Dongyang Lv & Qiushi Wang, 2023. "Evaluation of Urban Green Space Supply and Demand Based on Mobile Signal Data: Taking the Central Area of Shenyang City as an Example," Land, MDPI, vol. 12(9), pages 1-20, September.
    18. Bittencourt, Tainá A. & Giannotti, Mariana, 2023. "Evaluating the accessibility and availability of public services to reduce inequalities in everyday mobility," Transportation Research Part A: Policy and Practice, Elsevier, vol. 177(C).
    19. García-Ródenas, Ricardo & Marín, Ángel, 2009. "Simultaneous estimation of the origin-destination matrices and the parameters of a nested logit model in a combined network equilibrium model," European Journal of Operational Research, Elsevier, vol. 197(1), pages 320-331, August.
    20. Zhao, Pengjun & Lü, Bin & Roo, Gert de, 2011. "Impact of the jobs-housing balance on urban commuting in Beijing in the transformation era," Journal of Transport Geography, Elsevier, vol. 19(1), pages 59-69.

    Corrections

    All material on this site has been provided by the respective publishers and authors. You can help correct errors and omissions. When requesting a correction, please mention this item's handle: RePEc:gam:jijerp:v:19:y:2022:i:15:p:9432-:d:877821. See general information about how to correct material in RePEc.

    If you have authored this item and are not yet registered with RePEc, we encourage you to do it here. This allows to link your profile to this item. It also allows you to accept potential citations to this item that we are uncertain about.

    If CitEc recognized a bibliographic reference but did not link an item in RePEc to it, you can help with this form .

    If you know of missing items citing this one, you can help us creating those links by adding the relevant references in the same way as above, for each refering item. If you are a registered author of this item, you may also want to check the "citations" tab in your RePEc Author Service profile, as there may be some citations waiting for confirmation.

    For technical questions regarding this item, or to correct its authors, title, abstract, bibliographic or download information, contact: MDPI Indexing Manager (email available below). General contact details of provider: https://www.mdpi.com .

    Please note that corrections may take a couple of weeks to filter through the various RePEc services.

    IDEAS is a RePEc service. RePEc uses bibliographic data supplied by the respective publishers.