HMS CSTE Conference Presentation Reminder

Visualizing Spatio-Temporal Patterns of Emergency Department Utilization during a Polar Vortex

Dr. Andrew Walsh will present a poster on his abstract, Visualizing Spatio-Temporal Patterns of Emergency Department Utilization during a Polar Vortex, at next week’s annual CSTE conference in Nashville on Monday, June 23, 2014 from 3:30 PM-4:00 PM. Look for poster 239.

An excerpt from the abstract:

In the second week of January, 2014, a polar vortex caused once-in-a-generation cold temperatures across much of the United States. Given the exceptional nature of the weather conditions, it was expected that there would be impacts on public health and the healthcare system. Emergency department visits for cold-induced conditions such as hypothermia or frostbite are among the most likely outcomes, but there are broader questions to consider as well, such as whether the extreme cold would cause an overall increase in emergency department utilization or keep people away. Reviewing time series charts for each county would be prohibitive and not capture any spatial trends, and a shaded map cannot convey temporal patterns. Here we present a visualization for exploring spatio-temporal trends over a large geographic area.