Evaluation of Continuity of Care at a Health Service Organization

Diabetes Mellitus Clinical Trial

Official title:

The Evaluation of the Continuity of Care at the Group Health Centre, A Unique Multi-Specialty, Multi-Disciplinary Health Service Organization

Clinical Trial Details — Status: Completed

Administrative data

• NCT number: NCT00182286
• Other study ID #: RC 1030106
• Status: Completed
• Phase: N/A
• First received: September 13, 2005
• Last updated: September 13, 2005
• Start date: September 1999
• Est. completion date: July 2001

Study information

• Verified date: August 2005
• Source: McMaster University
• Contact: n/a
• Is FDA regulated: No
• Health authority: Canada: Health Canada
• Study type: Observational

Clinical Trial Summary

This project was conducted with patients at a multi-disciplinary, multi-specialty health services organization serving 44,000 rostered patients in Northern Ontario. It investigated continuity of care for patients with diabetes in the areas of barriers and potential solutions to, and correlates of continuity; and variability in costs associated with continuity of care and patient outcomes.

Description:

Continuity of care is a concept that has been garnering increased attention in the last few years. There have been multiple methods proposed by researchers for measuring continuity of care, most of which are based on proportions or ratios of visits to the same health care provider or centre. While a consistent method for measuring continuity of care is lacking, increased continuity of care using various definitions and measurement tools has been related to better well being, lower health care costs, better glucose control, and higher satisfaction but has also not been found to improve health outcomes in other scenarios. Whether a patient is better served by high sequential access to one provider or any provider within the same system or management team is controversial. Finally, patients’ perceptions of continuity of care have not been generally evaluated or correlated with current measurement methods. This project was conducted with patients at the Group Health Centre in Sault Ste Marie, Ontario, a multi-disciplinary, multi-specialty health services organization serving 44,000 rostered patients

Recruitment information / eligibility

• Status: Completed
• Enrollment: 342
• Est. completion date: July 2001
• Accepts healthy volunteers: No
• Gender: Both
• Age group: 18 Years and older

Eligibility

Inclusion Criteria:

• Adults (>18 years)

• Diagnosis of diabetes mellitus (according to the definition used in 1999 by the Canadian Diabetes Association

Exclusion Criteria:

• Gestational diabetes

• Could not communicate in English

• Life expectancy or residency expectancy in Sault Ste Marie of less than three years

Study Design

Observational Model: Defined Population, Time Perspective: Cross-Sectional

Related Conditions & MeSH terms

• Diabetes Mellitus

Intervention

Behavioral:
• Assessment of continuity of care from the patient perspective

• Relationship between continuity of care, patient outcomes, and costs

Locations

Country	Name	City	State
Canada	Group Health Centre	Sault Ste. Marie	Ontario

Sponsors (5)

Lead Sponsor	Collaborator
Hamilton Health Sciences Corporation	Canadian Health Services Research Foundation, Group Health Centre, Group Health Centre, Sault Ste Marie, ON, Ontario Ministry of Health and Long Term Care

Country where clinical trial is conducted

Canada, 

References & Publications (2)

Dolovich LR, Nair KM, Ciliska DK, Lee HN, Birch S, Gafni A, Hunt DL. The Diabetes Continuity of Care Scale: the development and initial evaluation of a questionnaire that measures continuity of care from the patient perspective. Health Soc Care Community. — View Citation

Nair KM, Dolovich LR, Ciliska DK, Lee HN. The perception of continuity of care from the perspective of patients with diabetes. Fam Med. 2005 Feb;37(2):118-24. — View Citation

External Links

•   Canadian Health Services Research Foundation
•   Group Health Centre Website