Accepted for/Published in: JMIR Public Health and Surveillance
Date Submitted: Jan 21, 2019
Date Accepted: Aug 31, 2019
(closed for review but you can still tweet)
Comparing Google Trends walk-in clinic and emergency department searches and primary care survey data among provinces in Canada
ABSTRACT
Background:
Access to primary care is a challenge for many Canadians. Models of primary care vary widely among provinces, including arrangements for same day and after-hours access. Use of walk-in clinics and emergency departments may also vary, but data sources that allow comparison are limited.
Objective:
We used Google Trends to examine relative frequency of searches for walk-in clinics and emergency departments across provinces and over time in Canada. We correlated provincial search frequencies from Google Trends with survey responses about primary care access from the Commonwealth Fund’s 2016 International Health Policy Survey of Adults in 11 Countries and the 2016 Canadian Community Health Survey.
Methods:
We developed search strategies to capture the range of terms used for walk-in clinics (e.g. urgent care clinic, after-hours clinic) and emergency departments (e.g. ER, emergency room) across Canadian provinces. We used Google Trends to determine the frequencies of these terms relative to total search volume within each province from January 2011 to December 2018. We calculated correlation coefficients and 95% confidence intervals between provincial Google Trends relative search frequencies and survey responses.
Results:
Relative search frequency of walk-in clinics increased steadily, doubling in most provinces between 2011 and 2018. Relative frequency of walk-in clinic searches was highest in the western provinces of British Columbia, Alberta, Saskatchewan, and Manitoba. Higher relative search frequency for walk-in clinics was correlated at province-level with ability to get a same or next-day appointment and inversely correlated with ED use for conditions treatable in patients’ regular place of care and with having a regular medical provider. Emergency department relative search frequencies were more stable over time and were not correlated with survey data.
Conclusions:
At province-level, relative search frequency for walk-in clinics from Google Trends is consistent with survey information about access to primary care. Findings suggest that patient use of online tools to search for more convenient or accessible care through walk-in clinics is increasing over time. Further research is needed to validate Google Trends data with administrative information on service use.
Citation
