Spring 2020 - Hospital Access Analysis Using Spatial Models

Affiliations:	Department of Sociology
Project Leader:	Jingqiu Ren jren@tamu.edu Sociology
Faculty Mentor:	Dr. Ernesto Amaral, Ph.D.
Meeting Times:	TBD – may utilize Zoom conferences on Thursdays or Fridays. Evening hour may be considered if accommodation for schedules requires such.
Team Size:	5 (team full)
Open Spots:	0
Special Opportunities:	Learning to use hospital data to answer health related sociological and health policy research questions. Work with an interdisciplinary team. Opportunity to contribute to and be acknowledged in publications.
Team Needs:	The team is recruiting for the following skill sets: GIS skills– advanced GIS skills in producing maps and assisting with spatial analysis. Proficiency with QGIS and/or GeoDa. Database skills – knowledge and abilities to create user friendly database to manage hospital measures that contain large datasets Knowledge or experience with statistical packages such as SPSS or Stata, and familiarity with modeling data. Public health knowledge– understanding of multiple determinants of health and public health approaches and interventions that improve health outcomes; knowledge and/or experience in identification of scientific data, tools of informatics, and public health approaches and interventions that improve health outcomes. Urban planning or transportation planning background – knowledge and/or experience in applying urban and regional planning theories in community development, especially in analyzing the role of transportation in community facility development.
Description:	The research team is conducting a spatial study in assessing private hospital access in healthcare system in the state of Texas by using hospital level variables. Results of the research will help public health officials identify policy implications to improve healthcare access