The Ecology of Gynecological Care for Women

Chia-Pei Chang, Chia-Lin Chou, Yueh-Ching Chou, Chun-Chih Shao, H. Irene Su, Tzeng-Ji Chen, Li-Fang Chou and Hann-Chin Yu
Additional contact information
Chia-Pei Chang: Department of Obstetrics and Gynecology, Taipei Veterans General Hospital, No. 201, Sec. 2, Shi-Pai Road, Taipei 112, Taiwan
Chia-Lin Chou: Department of Pharmacy, Taipei Veterans General Hospital, No. 201, Sec. 2, Shi-Pai Road, Taipei 112, Taiwan
Yueh-Ching Chou: Department of Pharmacy, Taipei Veterans General Hospital, No. 201, Sec. 2, Shi-Pai Road, Taipei 112, Taiwan
Chun-Chih Shao: Department of Family Medicine, Taipei Veterans General Hospital, No. 201, Sec. 2, Shi-Pai Road, Taipei 112, Taiwan
H. Irene Su: Department of Reproductive Medicine, University of California, San Diego, 9500 Gilman Dr., La Jolla, CA 92093, USA
Tzeng-Ji Chen: Department of Family Medicine, Taipei Veterans General Hospital, No. 201, Sec. 2, Shi-Pai Road, Taipei 112, Taiwan
Li-Fang Chou: Department of Public Finance, National Chengchi University, No. 64, Sec. 2, ZhiNan Rd., Wenshan District, Taipei 116, Taiwan
Hann-Chin Yu: Taipei Veterans General Hospital Hsinchu Branch, No. 81, Sec. 1, Zhongfeng Rd., Zhudong Township, Hsinchu County 310, Taiwan

IJERPH, 2014, vol. 11, issue 8, 1-9

Abstract: Gynecological care is vital to women’s health but utilization of gynecological care has been seldom addressed. We applied the population-based “ecology model” to demonstrate the utilization of gynecological care of women, with examples from Taiwan. We analyzed the claims data from the cohort datasets within the National Health Insurance Research Database in Taiwan. Women’s utilization of gynecological care in 2009 was computed. Of 1000 women, 319 utilized gynecological care at least once, 277 visited Western medicine clinics, 193 visited physician clinics, 118 visited hospital-based outpatient clinics, 73 visited traditional Chinese medicine clinics, eight were hospitalized, four were hospitalized in an academic medical center, and four visited emergency departments. More than 90% of young and middle-aged women who sought gynecological care visited gynecologist clinics. Elderly women were less likely to utilize gynecological care in all settings of medical care, but were more likely to be attended by non-gynecologists. Young women tended to visit emergency departments. The ecology model highlighted age disparities in women’s utilization of gynecological care in various settings of medical care. Since gynecological conditions were common among women, more attention should be paid on the availability of gynecologists and continuing medical education in gynecological care for non-gynecologists to guarantee women’s health.

Keywords: gynecological; ecology; medical care; national health insurance; utilization (search for similar items in EconPapers)
JEL-codes: I I1 I3 Q Q5 (search for similar items in EconPapers)
Date: 2014
References: View references in EconPapers View complete reference list from CitEc
Citations: View citations in EconPapers (2)

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