The Application of Computer Graphics to Patient Origin Study Techniques

Abstract

emphasis on commu¬ nity planning for hospitals and related health facilities and services has increased through¬ out the United States.Stimulated by concern for rising hospital costs, increasing utilization, and the expansion of a complex urbanized so¬ ciety, health leaders have urged that areawide planning become the rational basis upon which our health service system grows and develops Changes in population, whether in relation to natural increase or migration, and shifting hospital service patterns make imperative the development of tools which can monitor and report such changes clearly and promptly.Many of the major community studies on hos¬ pital planning in the United States in the last decade have been reported 2 or 3 years after the data have been gathered.In such instances the material may be offered for community deci¬ sion at a time when it is already too late for effective action.The concern of our hospital utilization research project is with the develop¬ ment and application of improved techniques for areawide planning.This paper deals with the development of one new hospital planning technique which may be helpful to institutions and communities as they seek to understand and Mr. Drosness is chief of the hospital utilization re¬ search project, bureau of hospitals, State of Cali¬ fornia