Towards a new understanding of provider continuity

Area of Science:

• Healthcare delivery
• Patient-centered care
• Family medicine

Background:

• Current definition of provider continuity focuses solely on the clinician.
• Patients and informal caregivers are active co-providers in healthcare.
• Fragmentation in care attendance can impair patient knowledge and information exchange.

Purpose of the Study:

• To propose an expanded definition of provider continuity.
• To challenge the clinician-centered foundation of family medicine.
• To highlight implications for practice and research.

Main Methods:

• Conceptual analysis of provider continuity.
• Re-evaluation of existing definitions based on patient and caregiver roles.
• Discussion of implications for family medicine.

Main Results:

• Provider continuity requires consistent attendance by the same individuals (patient, caregiver, clinician) across healthcare encounters.
• The current definition is insufficient due to the active role of patients and caregivers.
• A revised definition emphasizes uninterrupted succession of attendees and clinicians/services.

Conclusions:

• Redefining provider continuity to include consistent patient and caregiver attendance is crucial.
• This reconceptualization impacts family medicine's values and language.
• The proposed change necessitates adjustments in healthcare practice and research methodologies.