Importance Of Continuity Of Care

Great Essays
Continuity of Care: Why Stability of Patient Care Matters
Health care professionals work in a rapid paced environment therefore, continuity of care is often neglected. Today with many patients living longer lives and advancements have allowed for management of chronic illness a continuum of care must be in place to improve patient outcomes. In order for a patient to receive the highest quality of care moving through the fast paced complex health care setting today continuity must be achieved to ensure patient satisfaction. When the patient is satisfied with the treatment and continuity has allowed for the patient to have a better understanding of his or her illness patient outcomes and goals can be met at a more achievable rate. Modern hospitals
…show more content…
Currently in today’s health care practice setting there are three identified types of continuity known as informational, relational, and management continuity. Informational continuity can be defined as documented data and information related to the patient including medical conditions, history, and even patient’s preferences. This type of continuity connects information from one provider, or event to another health care provider or facility. Management continuity is often used when trying to manage complex or chronic disease processes that necessitate long-term management of the patient’s illness. Due to the complexity of various illnesses many require more than one discipline or health care professional to interact with one another in order for the patient to access the broad range of services to facilitate management of care. This type of continuity requires health care providers and professionals to be flexible yet consistent, and adapt to each individual’s requirements as well as circumstances. Relational continuity according to Burge et al. (2011), “a therapeutic relationship between a patient and one or more providers that spans various healthcare events and results in accumulated knowledge of the patient and care consistent with the patient 's …show more content…
In order to achieve quality care continuity of care must exist to attain both expected patient outcomes and satisfaction. According to Huxtable, Roberts, Somogyi, and Macintyre (2011), “Treatment aims include effective relief of acute pain, prevention of drug withdrawal, assistance with any related social, psychiatric and behavioural issues, and ensuring continuity of long-term care collaborative, interdisciplinary approach, working closely with other treating clinicians in both the hospital and community, in order to maintain continuity of patient care, is particularly important.” Disease management is a common concern for continuity in medical specialties due to the increasing difficulty of managing long term diseases such as diabetes, cancer, or mental health. Due to the continuing concern over managing long term diseases continuity is important in order to deliver care of services needed. Without continuity care would be fragmented and there would be a decrease in healthy patient

Related Documents

  • Improved Essays

    The cornerstone of this care model is developing a collaborative relationship between the patient and the clinician. Further, this dialogue…

    • 166 Words
    • 1 Pages
    Improved Essays
  • Improved Essays

    Laughlin reported the evolution of the nurse role in a primary care setting as a member of the treatment team for chronic illness. Laughlin summarized “the RN in the patient’s primary care setting is uniquely qualified to assess the broad spectrum of needs that patients with chronic conditions may present, and to determine, in partnership with the patient, a plan of action, coordinating other resources that may be beneficial” (p. 414). The author discusses the methods and outcomes of several studies conducted to support the role of nurses in the improvement of care provided for patients with chronic illness. Studies discussed utilizing the chronic care model and patient centered medical home principals. The author pointed out the need for…

    • 397 Words
    • 2 Pages
    Improved Essays
  • Decent Essays

    - Planned, organized, and established priorities based on individual patient’s needs and scheduled activities and adjusted priorities and activities in response to unanticipated events. - Delivered care and provided care coordination for patients in an intensive care setting. - Initiated and coordinated interprofessional team assessments and plans of care including physical, spiritual and psychosocial needs of patients across the continuum of care. - Developed plans of care to achieve identified patient goals in an intensive care setting including planning for transitions within and from the hospital setting. - Communicated regularly with the interprofessional team members throughout the patient care experience.…

    • 100 Words
    • 1 Pages
    Decent Essays
  • Improved Essays

    In this relationship, there can be no place for hostility, the exaggerated estrangement between these two professionals, distrust or bad interpersonal relationship (van der Biezen, Wensing, Poghosyan, van der Burgt and Laurant, 2017). In fact, deficient interpersonal relationships would lead to weakening what academics consider the backbone of the quality of patient care, either in the hospital setting or primary care (Kadda, 2013). The most effective vehicle for this process to be carried out efficiently and without stress is to establish effective communication and timely feedback between both…

    • 760 Words
    • 4 Pages
    Improved Essays
  • Improved Essays

    INTRODUCTION Continuity of care is an essential objective promoted in nursing practice (Messam and Pettifer, 2009) and the indispensable component in achieving an effective transfer of patient’s care between health practitioners are often referred to as clinical handover (Evan et al., 2012). The term ‘handover’ is acknowledged as a moment of making a significant transition in maintaining patients’ continuity of care which involves a process whereby a patient is ‘handed over’ from one clinician to another (Anderson et al., 2010). In a hospital survey conducted in 2009 on patient safety-culture, 49% of the participants who were hospital staff reported that relevant patient care information where often lost during the process of shift changes…

    • 263 Words
    • 2 Pages
    Improved Essays
  • Improved Essays

    According to the (American Occupational Therapy Association 2015), “The National Society for the Promotion of Occupational Therapy was founded in 1917 and incorporated under the laws of the District of Columbia”. The Constitutional objective of the states “Occupational Therapy shall be to study and advance curative occupations for invalids and convalescents; to gather news of progress in occupational therapy and to use such knowledge to the common good; to encourage original research, to promote cooperation among occupational therapy societies, and with other agencies of rehabilitation” (American Occupational Therapy Association 2015), In reviewing the history of Occupational Therapy Assistants, the (AOTA), listed the following dates of importance…

    • 757 Words
    • 4 Pages
    Improved Essays
  • Improved Essays

    Primary care for a refers to community based care which implement basic, simple non-emergent medical care, such as monthly check up or simple cold or minor care is received with an outpatient medical clinic or medical doctor’s office. The doctor’s office also gives quality care, according to the patient’s needs by giving the proper treatment for minor care. Patient feels comfortable with his/her doctor because the quality of care they receive for years. Primary care works with specialist that they know can help them when its required beyond their specialties. The hospital has more specialist that is specialized with doctors that, generally looking after patients with problems with their expertise.…

    • 773 Words
    • 4 Pages
    Improved Essays
  • Great Essays

    Importance Of Duty Of Care

    • 4284 Words
    • 18 Pages

    Employers have what is termed ‘ a Duty of Care ‘ to employees. This means Employers must ensure all reasonable steps are taken to ensure that the employees health, safety and well being are protected. In real terms employers are bound by health and safety and employment law, together with common law duty of care. For an employer to ensure the physical and mental well-being of it’s employees, it should not be seen simply as a legal obligation but more as sound business sense; for this consideration from an employer builds trust and so increases productivity, staff retention and employee engagement. The main considerations for an employer under Duty of Care are: *…

    • 4284 Words
    • 18 Pages
    Great Essays
  • Improved Essays

    Delivering the highest quality of care of our patient is the ultimate goal of every nurse in this profession. Effective nurse-patient communication and the whole health team are essential in ensuring that this goal being met. Miscommunication or failure to communicate the patient information effectively among the health team can result in poor care, medical mistake and can even be harmful to the patient. (Paget, L., Han, P., Nedza, S., Kurtz, P., Racine, E., Russell, S., Santa, J., Schumann, M., Simha, J. and Von Kohorn, I. 2011, June). Nurses need to have a clear understanding of their ethical obligation and how it can impact the patient care.…

    • 708 Words
    • 3 Pages
    Improved Essays
  • Decent Essays

    -Focus on the continuum of care, there is a big change occurring in healthcare and that is with the shift from fee-for-service to value based reimbursement payment and that is why the continuum of care is important as “the initial admission, how services are provided within that admission to create the most efficient process for a quick yet appropriate discharge, a discharge to the appropriate post-acute setting and follow-ups with that discharge” (Herman, 2012). this will ensure that the agency is generating and losing revenue. -Take into consideration other methods of treating opportunities. -Increasing the organization's presence within the community as well as of a difference that donations and gifts make that allow Hillsboro to provide…

    • 206 Words
    • 1 Pages
    Decent Essays
  • Improved Essays

    Continuum Of Care

    • 641 Words
    • 3 Pages

    Healthcare Services (Providers & Partners, N.d.). If the prospective enrollee does need this type of care, then he/she is determined eligible to attend a PACE program. If they do not need this type of care then an adult day health care or adult day care center would be the most suitable type of care for them. Once this is done, the PACE plan will schedule an assessment on the enrollee’s social and medical health from the interdisciplinary team and create a plan of care. The plan of care gets updated when needed by the interdisciplinary team to make sure the care provided is appropriate at all times for the enrollees health and social needs.…

    • 641 Words
    • 3 Pages
    Improved Essays
  • Great Essays

    Introduction Nursing is a dynamic profession of providing care for infirm and sick individuals. This profession exists due to the demands of society. One major problem society is facing today is a shortage of nurses. Lois Berry and Paul Curry (2012) state, “by the year 2022, there will be a need of 60 000 full time registered nurses (p.35). Berry and Curry note that the number of nurses will decrease by 2022.…

    • 1017 Words
    • 5 Pages
    Great Essays
  • Great Essays

    Concepts of Interprofessional Collaboration The concepts of interprofessional collaboration were made to help us all work together through associations to solve compound health complications. Significant ideas with the relationships, that nurses use every day, include sharing information or education, working together in partnerships, authority (who is in charge?), and being able to be accountable independently or in a group. They also utilize the diversity in the patient population and professional people that we work with. Although, there are no strong associations to how the groups work, all are different, but all have a patient focused atmosphere (D 'Amour, et al., 2005) to reduce risk factors for certain populations and to deliver services…

    • 829 Words
    • 4 Pages
    Great Essays
  • Decent Essays

    Paragraph 1 Introduction, anecdote/statistic about follow up in the elderly with chronic illness. Paragraph 2 Introduction, thesis statement “ Follow-up is one important care to prevent the complications that the elderly with chronic illness should follow-up as regularly. Paragraph 3 The importance of follow up in the elderly with chronic illness.…

    • 110 Words
    • 1 Pages
    Decent Essays
  • Great Essays

    All fourteen points ensure complete and holistic care of the patient. There is an exchange that takes place between those who provide care and those cared for that goes beyond the empirical reality of the moment and incorporates the spiritual. The 'art' of providing care includes an aspect of caring that has metaphysical origins and connotations. It concerns all aspects of the human experience, physical, psychological, spiritual and social. The Gestalt approach to nursing and the inclusion of caring as a primary requisite is the heart of the concept of interactive theory as it applies to nursing and as presented by Ms. Henderson.…

    • 2852 Words
    • 12 Pages
    Great Essays