Spatial methods for evaluating critical care and trauma transport: A scoping review

Area of Science:

• Medical Transportation Research
• Geospatial Analysis
• Critical Care Logistics

Background:

• Effective transportation of critically ill patients is vital for positive outcomes.
• Spatial research methods offer potential for optimizing patient transport logistics.
• Current applications of spatial methods in this field are not fully explored.

Purpose of the Study:

• To conduct a scoping review on the application of spatial research in critical care and trauma patient transportation.
• To identify gaps and limitations in the current use of spatial methods for analyzing patient transport.
• To inform future research directions for spatial analysis in medical transport.

Main Methods:

• Searched four major databases: Ovid Medline, PubMed, Embase, and Scopus.
• Included studies that utilized geospatial methods to analyze patient transport data.
• Reviewed a total of 12 selected studies.

Main Results:

• Most studies used basic spatial methods for travel time/distance calculations.
• Advanced spatial analysis tools are available but underused in this research area.
• Common applications included hospital bypass analysis, transport mode selection, and travel time comparisons.

Conclusions:

• A significant gap exists between available spatial tools and their application in medical transport optimization.
• Implementing geospatially informed transport decisions can lead to substantial healthcare cost savings.
• Strategic cost control in healthcare systems can be achieved with minimal impact on patient outcomes through spatial analysis.