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Health statistics mapped by T stop
By adamg on Mon, 03/30/2015 - 2:03pm
Dr. Sandro Galea, dean of the BU School of Public Health, uses T maps to illustrate health inequities in Boston - a city with one of the densest populations of doctors in the world:
This, then, tells a story of a city richly characterized by top-of-the-line medical resources and overall health indicators that are enviably good, but that has, within it, substantial heterogeneity in those same health indicators, associated in large part with variation in the fundamental socioeconomic circumstances that produce health in populations. The challenge to public health is apparent and vivid—how do we contribute to the generation of knowledge that can bridge these health gaps, and to the creation of conditions that produce health not just for some but for all, across a city like Boston?
Via Aaron Martel.
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Comments
and still we have insane wait times
My PCP was scheduling annual physicals something like 3 months out. I call with an immediate health concern and I can't get an appointment for days.
The problem is we've got a billion idiots doing foot surgery or eyebrow enhancement, and not enough general practitioners, because general medicine isn't sexy, doesn't bring in the big bucks.
When it costs as much as it
When it costs as much as it does to become a doctor, I can't really blame any of them for going into a specialty to get more $$$. Especially with PCPs having to shoulder more and more administrative duties managing multiple specialty consults etc.
I would love to see some loan forgiveness programs or some kind of tax break to physicians who become PCPs instead of jumping into specialty care immediately. Seems like an easy incentive.
Gets back to med school admissions
Twenty or so years ago, medical schools weren't interested in admitting the kinds of people who would likely go into primary care or similar specialties. Their admissions practices and demands reflected this. People with wider or community minded interests were not considered to be "competitive".
I know people who went on to be GPs who were careful not to say what they wanted to do, even though it was clear from the start that they wanted to be generalists.
We are reaping what they sowed - along with a health dose of doctor shortage as baby boomers retire in droves and enrollment slots have not kept up with population increases.
The major cause of this
The major cause of this shortage, and the high cost of health care, is the artificial medical school shortage imposed by the AMA.
They claim it's to ensure the quality of doctors. But I have a hard time believing that they know exactly how many people exist in each college graduating class who are smart enough to be a doctor, and that the med school capacity equals that number every year.
homicide doesn't track with
homicide doesn't track with poverty as much as you would think
Diabetes doesn't either. Not
Diabetes doesn't either. Not coincidentally, there's a strong component of genetic background involved. Very informative map.
Once again...
Roslindale and West Roxbury are left off of the map of Boston.
Once again
Somebody didn't read the link.
How many "subway" stops are there in Roslindale and West Roxbury, again?
Once again...
Roslindale and West Roxbury were left off the MBTA planning map.
Forest Hills is almost in Rozzy
The South end of the upper busway is only a few yards from Roslindale. But true, the station is in JP. And so let's modify the complaint, to no Orange Line coverage. It might be interesting to see statistics on some OL communities (even those that just miss having a stop).
A few other neighborhoods of
A few other neighborhoods of Boston notably absent in the pictorial essay (even though they actually have T stops):
Dorchester
South Boston
Charlestown
North End
South End
Jamaica Plain
Downtown
But how DARE they forget West Roxbury!!!
I "get" that the article is trying to make a geographic point
I was expecting a larger comparison of inner city vs. South Shore vs. Newton and beyond. That would have been much more interesting. Not to be Capitan Obvious but the income disparity between Waban and Dudley is pretty insane.
If you get off at...
From reading the charts the obvious solution to many of these problems is to get off at Arlington and take the bus to other parts of the city. The MBTA subway is giving people in Dudley Sq Diabetes!
#MisreadingCharts
This is kind of a weird map.
So--the Back Bay has lower birth weight than East Boston?
Except for homicide rates, I'm kind of surprised by the lack of difference here. Maybe it's just an indicator that these issues are complex? And yeah--would have liked to see more neighborhoods represented.