HOME HELP FEEDBACK SUBSCRIPTIONS ARCHIVE SEARCH TABLE OF CONTENTS		QUICK SEARCH:   [advanced] Author: Keyword(s): Year:  Vol:  Page:

This Article Full Text Full Text (PDF) In Brief TRACK Discussion: Submit a Comment TRACK Discussion: View Comments Alert me when this article is cited Alert me when TRACK Comments are posted Alert me if a correction is posted Services Email this article to a friend Similar articles in this journal Similar articles in PubMed Download to citation manager Citing Articles Citing Articles via HighWire Citing Articles via Google Scholar Google Scholar Articles by Buetow, S. A. Search for Related Content PubMed PubMed Citation Articles by Buetow, S. A.

Towards a New Understanding of Provider Continuity

Department of General Practice and Primary Care, University of Auckland, Auckland, NZ

CORRESPONDING AUTHOR: Stephen A. Buetow, PhD, Department of General Practice and Primary, Health Care, University of Auckland, Private Bag 92019, Auckland, New Zealand 1004, s.buetow{at}auckland.ac.nz

ABSTRACT

Provider continuity is in need of an expanded definition that is not exclusively clinician centered. Currently, provider continuity is defined by visits over time to the same clinician. Many patients and informal caregivers, however, are co-providers of health care, not merely consumers. As a result, provider continuity will not happen if there is a lack of consistency in who attends with or for the patient during successive visits. Such fragmentation may weaken knowledge of the patient and information exchange. Consequently, there is a need to redefine provider continuity to mean that the same attendees visit the same clinician(s), service, or facility as an uninterrupted succession of events. More than semantic quibbling, the proposed reconceptualization challenges the foundation of family medicine in terms of the values and language by which the discipline defines itself in clinician-centered ways. The change required has implications for practice and research.

Key Words: Continuity of patient care • health care providers • caregivers • theory • delivery of health care • health services research • family systems

This article has been cited by other articles:

				S Buetow and G Elwyn Are patients morally responsible for their errors? J. Med. Ethics, May 1, 2006; 32(5): 260 - 262. [Abstract] [Full Text] [PDF]

				S. A. Buetow To Care Is to Coprovide Ann. Fam. Med, November 1, 2005; 3(6): 553 - 555. [Abstract] [Full Text] [PDF]

				K. C. Stange In this Issue: The Patient-Clinician Relationship and Practice-Based Network Research Ann. Fam. Med, September 1, 2004; 2(5): 386 - 387. [Full Text] [PDF]

TRACK Comments: