Article Figures & Data
Figures
- Figure 1
Effects of continuity of care on family physicians and the therapeutic relationship
Tables
TYPE OF CONTINUITY OF CARE DESCRIPTION INFORMATION ACQUIRED OR CONNECTION ESTABLISHED THROUGH ... EXAMPLES OF MEASUREMENT TOOLS Interpersonal or relational Enduring emotional connection of the physician to the patient Caring for a patient over time, in situations that allow a unique body of knowledge about that patient to build and an emotional link to the patient to be established Patient satisfaction surveys capture the connection of patient to physician2–5; no tool exists to capture the connection of physician to patient Longitudinal Care provided to a patient over time Build-up of knowledge over time; seeing how the patient changes and the effects of care over time; familiarity Duration of patient-provider affiliation (no. of visits from initial to final encounter); intensity of patient-provider affiliation (no. of visits in a defined interval); COC (no. of providers per patient); UPC (no. of visits in a given period compared with total no. of visits); COC Index (measures no. of different providers seen); K Index (known provider continuity; measures COC with different providers)2–4,6 Geographic Care provided to a patient in different settings (eg, office, hospital, home) Seeing the environment patients establish for themselves; attending to and discussing personal mementos (eg, pictures, photographs) No tool Interdisciplinary Care provided across disciplines (ie, 1 doctor providing different types of care) or coordination of care by 1 caregiver (ie, overseeing care of different specialists for the patient) Putting together disparate pieces of information from many sources Evidence of indicated follow-up for particular problems6 Informational Availability of patient’s past information Connection builds as knowledge about the patient becomes more personalized Evidence of information transfer (compare patient surveys with medical record)6 Family Care provided by 1 caregiver to different members of a family Learning about patients in the unique context only family members can describe; understanding patients further through seeing how they assume different roles in the family Proportion of immediate family members cared for by 1 provider; family Continuity of Care Index2 -
COC—concentration of care, UPC—usual provider of care.
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CHARACTERISTICS RESIDENTS (N = 18) TRADITIONAL FAMILY PRACTICE (N = 9) EPISODIC CARE (N = 10) TOTALS (N = 37*) Age, y • 20–29 14 0 0 14 • 30–39 4 0 6 10 • 40–49 0 4 3 7 • 50–59 0 4 1 5 • ≥ 60 0 1 0 1 Sex • Male 6 3 4 13 • Female 12 6 6 24 Years in practice • 0 18 18 • 1–5 0 1 0 1 • 6–10 0 0 5 5 • >10 0 8 5 13 Practice setting • Rural NA 3 0 3 • Small city NA 0 10 10 • City NA 6 0 6 -
NA—not applicable.
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↵* For practice setting n = 19, as this characteristic was not assessed for residents.
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