BACKGROUND AND OBJECTIVES The objective of this research was to obtain and describe medical students' perspectives about continuity of care while they are participating in a preclinical practice-based preceptorship. METHODS Within the context of a preclinical preceptorship, students completed directed readings, conducted patient and physician interviews, and wrote reflections about continuity...

BACKGROUND Continuity of medical care is widely believed to lead to better health outcomes and service utilization patterns for patients. Most continuity studies, however, have only used administrative claims to assess longitudinal continuity with a provider. As a result, little is known about how interpersonal continuity (the patient's experience at the visit) relates to improved health outcom...

Continuity of care (COC) means the condition of “care over time by a single individual or team of health professionals,” [1] which is a cornerstone of primary care. With continuous care, patients tend to have higher quality of care, i.e., greater satisfaction, decreased emergency department (ED) visits and hospitalizations, and improved receipt of preventive services [2]. Physicians who have lo...

Continuity of care is often critical in delivering high quality health care. However, it is difficult to achieve in community health care where shift patterns and a need to minimise travelling time can reduce the scope for allocating staff to patients. Community midwifery is one example of such a challenge in the National Health Service where postnatal care typically involves a series of home v...

The College of Family Physicians of Canada has endorsed the recommendation from the Section of Teachers’ Working Group on Postgraduate Curriculum Review that residency training programs should develop and implement a competency-based curriculum that is • comprehensive, • focused on continuity of education and patient care, and • centred in family medicine. Together these recommendations form th...

BACKGROUND Continuity of care is regarded as a core quality element in healthcare. Continuity can be related to one or more specific caregivers but also applies to collaboration within a team or across boundaries of healthcare. Measuring continuity is important to identify problems and evaluate quality improvement of interventions. This study aimed to assess the feasibility and psychometric pro...

BACKGROUND Ageing population trends create a strong imperative for healthcare systems to develop models of care that reduce dependence on hospital services. People living in residential aged care facilities (RACFs) currently have high rates of presentation to emergency departments. The care provided in these environments may not optimally satisfy the needs of frail older persons from RACFs. O...

BACKGROUND Continuity of care has been explored largely from academic and service provider perspectives, and in relation to adult patient/client groups. We interviewed parents of children with complex chronic health conditions to examine how their experiences and perceptions of continuity of care fit with these perspectives; and to identify the salient factors in the experience of, and factors ...