ArticleThe British journal of general practice : the journal of the Royal College of General Practitioners2009
How should continuity of care in primary health care be assessed?
Article in The British journal of general practice : the journal of the Royal College of General Practitioners, 2009. The graph could read no effect estimate from its abstract, so it casts no vote on the map. Cited by 66 papers, 1 of them a synthesis that pooled it.
What it found
Each row is one number read from the abstract, on the scale the paper reported it, with its interval. Left of the dashed line favours the treatment, right favours the comparator. Under each row is the sentence it came from. New to these charts? A ten-minute tutorial.
The abstract states no effect estimate the extractor could read, or names no intervention and outcome on the map, so this paper lights no cell and moves no belief. It is still indexed, cited and linked below.
The trial behind it
Trials whose registry record cites this paper, or whose number appears in the abstract. A trial that started after this paper was published is citing it as background, not reporting it.
Neither the registry nor the abstract names a trial number. If this is a trial report, that itself is worth knowing.
Who cites it
66 citing papers in PubMed, 1 synthesis or guideline pooled it.
- General practitioner strategies for managing patients with multimorbidity: a systematic review and thematic synthesis of qualitative research.BMC family practice · 2020Pooled it
- Trial
- Does improved continuity of primary care affect clinician-patient communication in VA?Journal of general internal medicine · 2014Trial
- Continuity of care in the context of a primary health care reform: a follow-up after the SwedishScandinavian journal of primary health care · 2026Article
- Primary Care Utilization Among Legally Adjudicated Elder Mistreatment Cases in Comparison to Other Older Adults.Journal of the American Geriatrics Society · 2026Article
- Continuity of care and patient-reported experiences in Norwegian general practice: are they linked, and does the measurement of continuity matter?Family practice · 2026Article
- Evaluation of patient satisfaction after primary care system interventions: a follow-up study.BMJ open quality · 2025Article
- Quantifying, Understanding and Enhancing Relational Continuity of Care (QUERCC): a mixed-methods protocol.BMJ open · 2025Article
- A Systematic Review of Continuity of Care Strategies for Enhancing Diabetes Self-Management in Older Adults in Asian Countries.Journal of multidisciplinary healthcare · 2025Review
- Association between continuity of primary care and preventable hospitalization in adults with asthma: A cohort study.PloS one · 2025Article
- Cross-cultural adaptation of the Quebecois Patient-Centered Coordination by a Care Team Questionnaire for use in France.BMC primary care · 2024Article
- Relationship between continuity of primary care and hospitalisation for patients with COPD: population-based cohort study from South Korea.BMJ open respiratory research · 2024Article
- Ongoing Decline in Continuity With GPs in English General Practices: A Longitudinal Study Across the COVID-19 Pandemic.Annals of family medicine · 2024Article
- Article
- Healthcare fragmentation, multimorbidity, potentially inappropriate medication, and mortality: a Danish nationwide cohort study.BMC medicine · 2023Article
- What quantifies good primary care in the United States? A review of algorithms and metrics using real-world data.BMC primary care · 2023Review
- Successes, weaknesses, and recommendations to strengthen primary health care: a scoping review.Archives of public health = Archives belges de sante publique · 2023Article
- Taking command of continuity-An interview study with agency nurses.Nursing open · 2023Article
- Impact of MidMed, a general practitioner-led modified comprehensive geriatric assessment for patients with frailty.Age and ageing · 2023Article
- Self-reported continuity and coordination of antenatal care and its association with obstetric near miss in Uasin Gishu county, Kenya.African journal of primary health care & family medicine · 2023Article
6 more citing papers are in PubMed but not listed here.
Corrections and comments
- Commented on by
Authors and funding
4 authors.
Funding
No grant is acknowledged in the PubMed record.
Abstract
Recent changes in the organisation of primary health care have increased the range of professionals that patients may encounter, leading to renewed interest in the importance of continuity of care. To assess whether organisational changes have had an impact on continuity, it is necessary to define and measure the term. Researchers seeking to assess continuity face many conceptual and practical difficulties. This article argues that it is important to distinguish between three distinct but related concepts: longitudinal continuity from a minimum number of health professionals, caring relationships between patients and professionals, and well-coordinated care between professionals. An evaluation of Advanced Access as a case study is used to illustrate how researchers need to make several value judgements in operationalising longitudinal continuity. These include whether continuity should be measured from the perspective of patient, doctor, or healthcare system, the types of professionals and consultations that should be considered, the time period to be assessed, the measure to be used, and also practical considerations about data collection. It is argued that decisions about these issues should be based on an underlying hypothesis about why continuity may be important in the particular context. Distinguishing between longitudinal continuity, patient-professional relationships, and coordinated care makes it possible to examine interactions between these different concepts, and to examine relationships with outcomes such as patient satisfaction and quality of care. It will also give greater clarity to debates about whether new models of primary care reduce continuity.
Indexed as
Identifiers
What OpenQuestion holds
Registered trials
Read under generation 80e0d062 · epoch 390. Bibliography from PubMed, PubMed Central and OpenAlex; grants from NIH RePORTER; trial links from ClinicalTrials.gov; estimates, votes and beliefs from the OpenQuestion graph.