Maintenance of continuity of care in a rotating-physician model in an outpatient palliative care clinic

Continuity of care (COC) has been defined as “the degree to which a series of discrete healthcare events is experienced as coherent and connected and consistent with a patient’s medical needs and personal context.” [5]. COC for patients with serious illnesses has long been regarded as important, with attention paid to many facets of continuity, including both personal or relational continuity as well as informational/knowledge continuity [6, 7]. Studies from family practice as well as home-based palliative care indicate the importance of COC for patients [8,9,10,11]. A Cochrane review addressed continuity concerns in patients with cancer [12] and commented on the need for further research on not only improving continuity, but also on examining which aspects of the construct are most meaningful to patients.