Researchers describe the development and validation of an instrument to measure continuity of care from the patient's perspective.
The measure, they conclude, reliably captures nine dimensions of continuity experienced by patients when they encounter multiple caregivers in various places.
Though it builds on previous measures of continuity of care, this refined measure represents an important addition to existing tools by integrating different types of continuity that address the dimensions of information transfer, care plan and monitoring, support for self-management and team-work focused on coordination.
Paper: 'Validation of a Generic Measure of Continuity of Care: When Patients Encounter Several Clinicians' By Jeannie L. Haggerty, PhD, et al September/October 2012 Annals of Family Medicine