In Ontario, the population of older adults is increasing. While the provincial government is taking action to address increasing demand on health systems, older adults are still suffering the consequences of a health system that is not able to meet their complex care needs. Older adults face barriers to continuity of care including difficulties with memory, reliance on informal caregivers, frailty, and difficulties scheduling appointments. These barriers also exist within the long-term care setting. Long-term care facilities are making efforts to provide more effective care, including designing care approaches aimed to meet the complex care needs of older adults. Aspects of a goal-oriented approach suggest that it has the potential to reduce fragmentation and positively impacting continuity of care. However, the impact of goal-oriented care on continuity of care in a long-term care setting has yet to be explored. This thesis uses an exploratory case study methodology to describe how a goal-oriented care approach influenced continuity of care in a long-term care setting, as perceived by residents, staff, and administrators. The case study setting is the Perley & Rideau Veterans Health Centre in Ottawa, Ontario, where the SeeMe program, a frailty-informed approach with a goal-oriented component, was recently introduced. Factors associated with the SeeMe program and other organizational factors perceived to facilitate and inhibit informational, relational and management continuity were identified. Aspects of the SeeMe program that facilitated informational continuity were: goals-of-care meetings with residents, their care team and family; care conferences that helped residents understand their care options; and, procedures that ensured consistency in where resident’s goal information is stored. Aspects that facilitated relational continuity were: understanding residents’ values and preferences; staff increasing awareness of the program for families; and, integration of the family perspective into a resident’s care. Program aspects that facilitated management continuity were: discussions that led to informed decision-making; use of assessments as a reference tool in the case of an acute health event; discussions that empowered residents to talk to external care providers; and, creation of a structure that facilitated consistencies in care. These factors can be targeted when designing care approaches aimed to improve continuity in long-term care settings.

Yes / Background: medication-related problems occur frequently when older patients are discharged from hospital. Interventions to support medication use have been developed; however, their effectiveness in older populations are unknown. This review evaluates interventions that support successful transitions of care through enhanced medication continuity. Methods: a database search for randomised controlled trials was conducted. Selection criteria included mean participant age of 65 years and older, intervention delivered during hospital stay or following recent discharge and including activities that support medication continuity. Primary outcome of interest was hospital readmission. Secondary outcomes related to the safe use of medication and quality of life. Outcomes were pooled by random-effects meta-analysis where possible. Results: twenty-four studies (total participants=17,664) describing activities delivered at multiple time points were included. Interventions that bridged the transition for up to 90 days were more likely to support successful transitions. The meta-analysis, stratified by intervention component, demonstrated that self-management activities (RR 0.81 [0.74, 0.89]), telephone followup (RR 0.84 [0.73, 0.97]) and medication reconciliation (RR 0.88 [0.81, 0.96]) were statistically associated with reduced hospital readmissions. Conclusion: our results suggest that interventions that best support older patients’ medication continuity are those that bridge transitions; these also have the greatest impact on reducing hospital readmission. Interventions that included self management, telephone follow-up and medication reconciliation activities were most likely to be effective; however, further research needs to identify how to meaningfully engage with patients and caregivers to best support post-discharge medication continuity. Limitations included high subjectivity of intervention coding, study heterogeneity and resource restrictions. / National Institute for Health Research (NIHR) under its Research for Patient Benefit (RfPB) Programme (Grant PB-PG-0317-20010).

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Bakgrund: Kontinuerlig barnmorskeledd vårdmodell för kvinnor under graviditet, förlossning och eftervård tillämpas i flera länder runtom i världen. Modellen har visat sig positiv både ur medicinska och ekonomiska aspekter. Kvinnor i Sverige uttrycker en önskan om att kontinuiteten i vården kring graviditet, förlossning och eftervård ska öka. Trots detta tillämpas inte kontinuerlig barnmorskeledd vårdmodell i Sverige idag, bortsett från enstaka nyligen påbörjade projekt. Syfte: Att beskriva kvinnors upplevelser av kontinuerlig barnmorskeledd vårdmodell under graviditet, förlossning och eftervård. Metod: Kvalitativ metasyntes med metaetnografisk innehållsanalys. Femton (15) artiklar inkluderades i resultatet. Resultat: Tre huvudkategorier och sju underkategorier identifierades som centrala och övergripande teman för kvinnors upplevelser av kontinuerlig, barnmorskeledd vårdmodell. De tre huvudkategorierna var personcentrerad vård, relationen till barnmorskan och kommunikationen. Överlag var kvinnornas upplevelser av kontinuerlig, barnmorskeledd vårdmodell positiva. Slutsats: Kvinnor upplever kontinuerlig barnmorskeledd vårdmodell som stödjande, stärkande och personcentrerad. Kontinuerlig barnmorskeledd vårdmodell är en personcentrerad vårdform som stödjer och stärker kvinnorna genom graviditet, förlossning och eftervård. De positiva upplevelserna av kontinuerlig barnmorskeledd vårdmodell verkar minska när vården under graviditeten bedrivs i gruppform istället för individuellt. Klinisk tillämpbarhet: Resultatet av denna studie kan vara till stöd för att utveckla mödrahälsovården och förlossningsvården i Sverige. Den här studien kan inspirera till förändring för att uppnå personcentrerad vård för kvinnor under graviditet, förlossning och eftervård. / Background: Midwife-led continuity of care model for women during pregnancy, childbirth and postpartum care is applied in several countries around the world. The model has proved positive both from medical and economic aspects. Women in Sweden express the wish that the continuity of care regarding pregnancy, childbirth and aftercare should increase. Despite this, midwife-led continuity of care model is not applied in Sweden today, apart from single recently initiated projects. Aim: To describe women's experiences of midwife-led continuity of care model during pregnancy, childbirth and aftercare. Method: Qualitative meta-synthesis with etnographic content analysis. Fifteen (15) items were included in the result. Results: Three main categories and seven subcategories were identified as central and overarching themes for women's experiences of midwife-led continuity of care model. The three main categories were person-centered care, the relation to the midwife and the communication. Overall, women's experiences of midwife-led continuity of care model were positive. Conclusion: Women experience midwife-led continuity of care model as supportive, strengthening and person-centred. Midwife-led continuity of care model is a person-centered form of care that supports and strengthens the women through pregnancy, childbirth and postpartum care. The positive experiences of midwife-led continuity of care model seem to decrease when the care is given in group form during pregnancy instead of individually. Clinical implications: The result of this study can be of value for developing maternity care in Sweden. This study can inspire to create new ways to achieve person-centered care for women during pregnancy, childbirth and postpartum care.

This thesis considers three physician scheduling problems in health care systems. Specifically, we focus on improvements to current physician scheduling practices through the use of mathematical modeling. In the first part of the thesis, we present a physician shift scheduling problem focusing on maximizing continuity of care (i.e., ensuring that patients are familiar with their treating physicians, and vice versa). We develop an objective scoring method for measuring the continuity of a physician schedule and combine it with a mixed integer programming model. We apply our methods to the problem faced in the pediatric intensive care unit at Children's Healthcare of Atlanta at Egleston, and show that our schedule generation approach outperforms manual methods for schedule construction, both with regards to solution time and continuity. The next topic presented in this thesis focuses on two scheduling problems: (i) the assignment of residents to rotations over a one-year period, and given that assignment, (ii) the scheduling of residents' night and weekend shifts. We present an integer programming model for the assignment of residents to rotations such that residents of the same type receive similar educational experiences. We allow for flexible input of parameters and varying groups of residents and rotations without needing to alter the model constraints. We present a simple model for scheduling 1st-year residents to night and weekend shifts. We apply these approaches to problems faced in the Department of Surgery Residency Program at Emory University School of Medicine. Rotation assignment is made more efficient through automated schedule generation, and the shift scheduling model allows us to highlight infeasibilities that occur when shift lengths exceed a certain value, and we discuss the impact of duty hour restrictions under limitations of current scheduling practices. The final topic of this thesis focuses on the assignment of physicians to various tasks while promoting equity of assignments and maximizing space utilization. We present an integer programming model to solve this problem, and we apply this model to the physician scheduling problem faced in the Department of Gynecology and Obstetrics at Emory University Hospital and generate high quality solutions very quickly.

Stroke is one of the major causes of eating difficulties (EDs). It is one of the leading causes of death and disability and one of the most important factors contributing to health-care costs. There is a clear association between EDs after stroke and undernutrition, where studies have shown that structured screening of eating function among stroke patients can predict nutritional problems as well as need for subsequent institutional care. Reliable and valid instruments that can identify EDs exist, but there is lack of knowledge on how persons experience living with EDs after stroke. Stroke unit care is evidence-based and grounded in multidisciplinary collaboration and continuity of care. The overall aim of this thesis is to explore and describe EDs after stroke as represented by health care professionals in patient records (PRs) and transferred information, and as described by persons living with EDs after stroke. An additional aim is to explore methodological aspects related to the inclusion of persons with EDs and communication impairment in research studies. Both quantitative and qualitative methods were used. Two studies used descriptive designs (I, II), one an explorative design (III) and one applied a methodological discussion (IV). In one of the studies PR data were used (I), in another study data were derived from three sources: PRs, screening of patients and interviews with nurses (II). Persons with EDs after stroke participated in Study III while literature, empirical data and researchers' experiences served as the data in study IV. Data were analysed by categorisation of phrases (I), content analysis (II) and descriptive statistics (I, II), by qualitative analysis (III) and by processing of literature and empirical findings in two research groups (IV). The main findings from the studies on representation of stroke care in PRs (I, II) showed that, despite that >50% of patients in Study I and all patients in Study II had EDs, there were few signs of multidisciplinary collaboration dealing with this problem. Unsystematic screening for swallowing difficulties was routine, whereas screening for nutritional risk and EDs was lacking (I, II). Multidisciplinary discharge summaries proved to have low quality and entailed little information on patients' eating ability (I). The two EDs most frequently documented were swallowing and lack of energy to complete a meal (I,II). EDs were described in vague terms (I, II). In Study II, all patients had swallowing difficulties and most patients had lack of energy to complete a meal. The electronic information transfer tool held information on eating ability for most patients (II), but the nursing staff in residential home care perceived deficiencies in that information, even identifying several EDs not reported at discharge (II). Experiences from persons living with EDs after stroke were presented in one main theme: Striving to live a normal life, including three sub-themes: Abandoned to learn on one's own (little support from health care professionals to learn to handle eating), Experiencing losses (loss of eating functions and loss of valued activities) and Feeling dependent in mealtime situations (III). One major finding from the methodological exploration (IV) is that creative approaches and suitable methods for inclusion of participants with EDs and communication impairment into qualitative studies can be found in the fields of aphasiology and learning disabilities. Another major finding from Study IV is that researchers need good communication skills as well as knowledge in neuropsychology. A general conclusion is that screening for EDs should be routine in stroke care and that a multidisciplinary terminology to express EDs must be developed to provide accurate information transfer. Health care professionals need to enhance their knowledge in nutrition and provide support to stroke patients with EDs with the goal that they can eat and perform meal-related activities in accordance with their habits before the stroke. To gain access to the experiences of persons with EDs and communication impairment researchers need to test participatory approaches when planning for inclusion of those persons.

La continuité des soins est une caractéristique centrale des soins primaires. Celle-ci représente principalement l’idée d’une relation durable dans le temps entre le patient et son médecin. Elle a été associée dans la littérature à un impact positif sur la qualité des soins, et sur la santé : amélioration de la satisfaction des patients vis-à-vis de leurs soins, réduction du nombre d’hospitalisations et de visites aux urgences. Cependant, la question de la continuité est peu présente dans les réformes françaises des soins primaires à l’inverse de la question de l’accès aux soins. L’objectif de la thèse est de valider un indicateur de la continuité, évaluer la continuité des soins en France, son évolution et son impact sur la santé. L’indicateur pourra fournir un outil de pilotage des soins primaires aux Agences Régionales de Santé (ARS). Celui-ci pourra être utilisé dans le cadre du suivi des schémas régionaux d’organisation des soins ambulatoires afin de garantir le maintien et l’amélioration de la continuité en France.Ce travail s’est appuyé principalement sur les données de l’échantillon généraliste des bénéficiaires. Il s’agit d’un échantillon au 1/97e des données de remboursements de l’assurance maladie, représentatif de la population générale. La continuité a été évaluée à l’aide d’un indice de continuité qui permet d’évaluer la concentration des visites médicales d’un patient avec le même médecin généraliste. Cette mesure est un reflet indirect de la longitudinalité. Après avoir évalué le niveau de continuité en France, l’association de continuité à la mortalité a été testée à l’aide d’un modèle de Cox, en introduisant la mesure de continuité comme une variable dépendante du temps. Dans un deuxième temps, le rôle des facteurs contextuels d’offre de soins et des facteurs individuels sur le niveau de continuité a été testé à l’aide d’un modèle multiniveau. Enfin, les caractéristiques métrologiques de la mesure de continuité des soins ont été testées afin de valider la mesure en tant qu’indicateur.Les résultats montrent que la continuité des soins en France a peu évolué ces dernières années et se maintient à un niveau relativement élevé. Une variation interrégionale existe avec des régions ayant une meilleure continuité des soins et d’autres avec une continuité plus faible. Les analyses montrent par ailleurs que la diminution de la continuité des soins est associée à une augmentation du risque de décès de l’ordre de 4 % en population générale. Le niveau de continuité est associé principalement à des facteurs individuels et aux caractéristiques du médecin. Les facteurs d’offres de soins n’ont qu’un rôle modéré dans la variation de la continuité des soins, même si les résultats confirment l’association négative entre continuité et accès. Enfin, la mesure a des qualités métrologiques suffisantes pour être validées en tant qu’indicateur de qualité.En conclusion, la continuité des soins est associée au niveau de santé de la population. L’évaluation de la continuité dans le contexte français montre un niveau moyen élevé en France, sous doute lié à l’attachement en France au médecin généraliste, mais révèle également des variations interrégionales. Ces variations représentent une marge d’amélioration de la continuité et l’opportunité d’améliorer le niveau de santé de la population. Ainsi, l’utilisation d’outils tels qu’un indicateur de continuité pourrait permettre aux ARS de suivre l’évolution de la continuité et de mesurer l’impact de réforme comme les parcours de patients. La mise en place de stratégie nationale de santé représente une opportunité d’introduire la notion de continuité au cœur des soins primaires. / Continuity of care is a central feature of primary care. It represents the idea of a long lasting relationship between the patient and his doctor. It has been associated with a positive impact on the quality of care and on health outcomes such as improving patient satisfaction with health care or fewer hospitalizations and emergency room visits. However, continuity has been somewhat neglected in the French primary care reforms in contrast to issues such as access to care. Furthermore, it has been suggested that the efforts to improve access could have reduced continuity. Thus, the aim of the thesis is to evaluate continuity of care in France and assess its recent evolution and its impact on health. The final objective is to validate a measure of continuity that could be used as a management tool for Regional Agencies of Health.This work is based on data from a 1/97e, representative of the general population, sample of the national health insurance database that contains every health care reimbursements made to French beneficiaries. Continuity was assessed using the continuity index of Bice and Boxerman that assesses the concentration of medical consultations with the same general practitioner. This measure is an indirect reflection longitudinality. The measure was used to assess the level of continuity in France and assess the association between continuity and all-cause mortality using a Cox model and introducing the measure of continuity as a time-dependent variable. Furthermore, the measure was also used to assess the role of individual and contextual factors, including provision of care, on the level of continuity using a multilevel model. Finally, the metrological characteristics of the measure were tested to validate the measurement as an indicator based on the Agency for Health Research and Quality.The analyses showed that continuity of care in France has remained constant in recent years at a relatively high level. However, interregional variation with regions with better continuity of care and others with lower continuity were seen. Lower continuity of care values were associated with a four percent increase in likelihood of death in the general population. Continuity levels were also associated with individual factors, such as sex, age and social status of the beneficiaries, as well as factors at the physician level. Provision of care factors had a moderate role in the variation of continuity of care levels. However, the results confirm the negative association between continuity and access. Finally, the measure was validated as a quality indicator.In conclusion, continuity of care is associated with the level of health of the population. The evaluation of the continuity in the French context shows a relatively high level in France, no doubt due to the attachment in France to the general practitioner model. However, it also revealed interregional variations that suggest that there is room for improvement and thus an opportunity to improve the level of health of the population. The use of tools such as a continuity indicator could allow regulatory agencies to monitor continuity and measure the impact of implementing actions, such as care pathways. The elaboration of the national healthcare strategies is a tremendous opportunity to include continuity of care in primary care organization planning.

Continuity of patient care is an essential element of primary care because it should result in better quality care and disease management, especially for older adults who often have multiple chronic illnesses. Even though continuity of care has been studied for decades, it remains difficult to define and quantify and, there is no consensus about best practices for assessing whether or not a patient experiences it or a practitioner provides it. Moreover, no theoretically-driven measures for the assessment of continuity of care exist, and there have been few rigorous evaluations of its association with subsequent health and health service utilization outcomes. The principal purpose of this dissertation research was to better understand continuity of care for older adults by identifying the components of the patient-provider relationship that are important from the patient perspective, understanding how commonly used provider-proxy continuity measures relate to the patient experience, and evaluating whether the patient experience or provider-proxy assessments are associated with improved health and health services utilization. I used survey data from the 2,997 Medicare beneficiaries who participated in the 2004 National Health and Health Services Use Questionnaire (NHHSUQ) linked to their Medicare claims for 2002-2009. The NHHSUQ contained patient-reported data on usual primary provider, usual place of care, and the quality and duration of the relationship with their provider. By linking this information to their Medicare claims, I was able to evaluate both patient-reported and provider-proxy (claims-based) measures of continuity of care from two years prior to the survey, and evaluate the impact of continuity on health and health service utilization for five years after the survey. Study results indicate that the older adult patient experience of continuity is reflective of both relationship duration and patient-provider interaction during the care visit, and that most provider-proxy continuity assessments did not relate to patient perceptions. And, the patient and provider-proxy experiences of continuity had different relationships with important health outcomes. These results enhance our understanding of continuity of care for older adults and inform policymakers and researchers about aspects of continuity that are important for the health of older adults and the appropriate use of health care resources.

Introduction/ Objectives: Stroke, the third leading cause of death in Canada, is projected to rise in the next 20 years as the population ages and obesity rates increase. Family caregivers fulfill pertinent roles in providing support for family members who have survived a stroke, from onset to re-integration into the community. However, the transition from rehabilitation to home is a crucial transition for both the stroke survivor and family caregiver. As the stroke survivor transitions home from a rehabilitation facility, family caregivers provide different types of support, including assistance with navigating the stroke rehabilitation system. They also are a constant source of support for the stroke survivor providing them with continuity during the transition. In this exploratory study we examined family caregivers’ perceptions and experiences navigating the stroke rehabilitation system. The theories of continuity care and complex adaptive systems were used to examine the transition home from hospital or stroke rehabilitation facility, and in some cases back to hospital. Methodology: Family caregivers (n=14) who provide care for a stroke survivor were recruited 4-12 weeks following the patient’s discharge from a stroke rehabilitation facility. Interviews were conducted with family caregivers to examine their perceptions and experiences navigating the stroke rehabilitation system. Directed content analysis was used to explore the perceptions of family caregivers as they reflected on the transitions home. The theories of continuity of care and complex adaptive systems were used to interpret their experiences. Results/Conclusions: During the transition home from a rehabilitation facility, family caregivers are a constant source of support, providing the stroke survivor with continuity. Emergent themes highlight the importance of the caregiving role, and barriers and facilitators that impact the role, and influence continuity of care. Also, supports and services in the community were limited or did not meet the specific needs of the family caregiver. The acknowledgment of the unique attributes of each case will ensure supports and services are tailored to the family caregiver’s needs. Mitigation of systemic barriers would also decrease complexity experienced at the micro-level in the stroke rehabilitation system, and better support the family caregiver during the transition home from a stroke rehabilitation facility.

Bakgrund och syfte: Personer som drabbas av en höftfraktur är en stor patientkategori, och till följd av en ökande andel äldre i befolkningen kommer den att bli ännu större. Majoriteten av dessa patienter kommer att åka in till sjukhus med ambulans. För att minska patientens lidande och uppkomst av komplikationer är det prehospitala omhändertagandet viktigt. Syftet med denna studie var att jämföra ambulanssjuksköterskans specifika omvårdnadsåtgärder vid vård av patient med höftfraktur före respektive efter införandet av en ny vårdkedja, ”Raka spåret”, och då framförallt se om givandet av smärtlindring förändrats. ”Raka spåret” innebär att ambulanspersonalen utför en del av de åtgärder som tidigare gjorts på akutmottagningen och transporterar patienten direkt till röntgen.   Metod: Metoden var en retrospektiv studie med komparativ design där två grupper med 15 patienter i varje grupp jämfördes mot varandra. Patienterna i båda grupperna hade haft en höftfraktur och förts in med ambulans mellan klockan 0800-2200. Den ena gruppen fördes in innan ”Raka spåret” fanns och den andra gruppen fördes in efter införandet. En anledning till ”Raka spåret” var att öka förståelsen hos ambulanspersonalen för att ett strukturerat omhändertagande, där särskilt smärtlindring och trycksårsprofylax betonades, har stor betydelse för patientens fortsatta vård.   Resultat: Resultatet visade att efter införandet av ”Raka spåret” utfördes fler prehospitala omvårdnadsåtgärder av ambulanssjuksköterskorna. Alla patienter i gruppen år 2010 fick perifer venkateter (PVK) och på 13 patienter togs EKG. Fler patienter fick smärtlindring efter införandet av ”Raka spåret”, innan fick 60 % smärtlindring mot 93 % efter ”Raka spåret. Att införa ”Raka spåret” antydde en förbättring i omhändertagandet av patienter med höftfraktur och det framkom med tydlighet att detta ledde till ett mer homogent omhändertagande.  Det visade också, att när det fanns riktlinjer för att patienten ska smärtlindras, skedde smärtlindring i större utsträckning. Detta var en pilotstudie utan möjlighet till generaliseringar av resultatet, för att kunna göra detta krävs ett större antal patienter. / Background and purpose:People who suffer from a hip fracture are a large category of patients, and as a result of an increasing proportion of older people, it will be even greater. The majority of these patients will go to the hospital by ambulance. To reduce the suffering of the patient and the occurrence of complications the prehospital care is important. The purpose of this study was to compare the specific prehospital nursing interventions for patients with hip fracture before and after the introduction of a new chain of care, "Straight track". Especially to see if the initiation of pain management has changed. "Straight track" means that ambulance nurses carry out some of the measures that earlier was done in the emergency room and transporting the patient directly to radiology.   Method:The method was a retrospective study of comparative design in which two groups with 15 patients in each group were compared against each other. Patients in both groups had a hip fracture and went in by ambulance between 08 am to 10 pm. One group was transported before the "Straight track" began and the second group was transported after the introduction. One purpose of the direct route was to increase understanding, of the ambulance nurses, that a structured treatment, especially with relief of pain and pressure ulcer prophylaxis, has great significance for the patients continued care.   Result: The results showed that after the introduction of the "Straight track" there was more pre-hospital care measures carried out by emergency nurses. All patients in the group from 2010 had peripheral venous catheter and 13 patients undergoing an ECG. More patients got pain relief after the introduction of the "Straight track". Before there were 60% that got pain relief and after there were 93% that got pain relief.Introducing “Straight track” suggested an improvement in the care of patients with hip fracture and it showed with clarity that this led to a more homogeneous treatment. It also showed that when there were guidelines for the patient to get pain relieve then it was given to a greater extent. This was a pilot study without possibility to draw any general conclusions, this requires a larger number of patients.