[Episodes of care: a concept in public health]

This paper presents a revision of the literature on the definition of episodes of care, which emerged as a concept in health services research during the 1960s. Episodes of care have been described from three different perspectives: that of the patient (episode of indisposition); the care provider (episode of illness); and the financial sponsor (episode of care). The main scope of this study is to present a review of the literature on the operational definition of episode of care. A computerized bibliographical review was conducted for the period between 1950 and 2007 in the MEDLINE database and 54 articles met the criteria for evaluation. The definition of episode of care differs widely in the literature. The operational definition of the episode of care to be applied should be determined by the overall goals of the study, as well as the relative advantages and limitations of the methodology used.