Continuity and care coordination of primary health care: a scoping review

BMC Health Services Research

Research

Daniel Erku¹  Eskinder Wolka²  Anteneh Zewdie²  Frehiwot Nigatu²  Yibeltal Assefa³  Aklilu Endalamaw⁴  Resham Khatri⁵ 

[1] Centre for Applied Health Economics, School of Medicine, Griffith University, Mount Gravatt, Australia;Menzies Health Institute Queensland, Griffith University, Mount Gravatt, Australia;International Institute for Primary Health Care-Ethiopia, Addis Ababa, Ethiopia;School of Public Health, the University of Queensland, Brisbane, Australia;School of Public Health, the University of Queensland, Brisbane, Australia;College of Medicine and Health Sciences, Bahir Dar University, Bahir Dar, Ethiopia;School of Public Health, the University of Queensland, Brisbane, Australia;Health Social Science and Development Research Institute, Kathmandu, Nepal;

关键词: Continuity of care;    Care coordination;    Care continuity;    Primary health care;    Primary care;   

DOI  :  10.1186/s12913-023-09718-8

 received in 2023-02-06, accepted in 2023-06-19,  发布年份 2023

来源: Springer

【 摘 要 】

BackgroundHealthcare coordination and continuity of care conceptualize all care providers and organizations involved in health care to ensure the right care at the right time. However, systematic evidence synthesis is lacking in the care coordination of health services. This scoping review synthesizes evidence on different levels of care coordination of primary health care (PHC) and primary care.MethodsWe conducted a scoping review of published evidence on healthcare coordination. PubMed, Scopus, Embase, CINAHL, Cochrane, PsycINFO, Web of Science and Google Scholar were searched until 30 November 2022 for studies that describe care coordination/continuity of care in PHC and primary care. We followed the Preferred Reporting Items for Systematic Reviews and Meta-Analyses Extension for Scoping Reviews (PRISMA-ScR) guidelines to select studies. We analysed data using a thematic analysis approach and explained themes adopting a multilevel (individual, organizational, and system) analytical framework.ResultsA total of 56 studies were included in the review. Most studies were from upper-middle-income or high-income countries, primarily focusing on continuity/care coordination in primary care. Ten themes were identified in care coordination in PHC/primary care. Four themes under care coordination at the individual level were the continuity of services, linkage at different stages of health conditions (from health promotion to rehabilitation), health care from a life-course (conception to elderly), and care coordination of health services at places (family to hospitals). Five themes under organizational level care coordination included interprofessional, multidisciplinary services, community collaboration, integrated care, and information in care coordination. Finally, a theme under system-level care coordination was related to service management involving multisectoral coordination within and beyond health systems.ConclusionsContinuity and coordination of care involve healthcare provisions from family to health facility throughout the life-course to provide a range of services. Several issues could influence multilevel care coordination, including at the individual (services or users), organizational (providers), and system (departments and sectors) levels. Health systems should focus on care coordination, ensuring types of care per the healthcare needs at different stages of health conditions by a multidisciplinary team. Coordinating multiple technical and supporting stakeholders and sectors within and beyond health sector is also vital for the continuity of care especially in resource-limited health systems and settings.

【 授权许可】

CC BY   
© The Author(s) 2023

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