Background: Improving coordination of care is a major challenge for health systems internationally. Tools are required to evaluate alternative approaches to improve coordination from the patient perspective. This study aimed to develop and validate a new measure of coordination for use in a primary care setting. Methods: Four methods were used. Firstly, a concept analysis was undertaken to identify the essential attributes of coordination drawing upon literature from health and organisational studies and to establish its boundaries with related concepts such as continuity of care, integration and patient centred care. Secondly, existing measures of coordination were reviewed to assess the extent to which item content reflected the definition arising from the concept analysis and to appraise psychometric properties. Thirdly, a new instrument, the Care Coordination Questionnaire (CCQ), was developed utilising items from existing questionnaires and others developed following focus groups with 30 patients. Ten cognitive interviews were used to evaluate the items generated. Finally, the CCQ was administered in a cross sectional survey to 980 patients. Item and model analyses were performed. Test-retest reliability was evaluated through a second administration of the CCQ after two weeks. Concurrent validity was evaluated through correlation with the Client Perceptions of Coordination Questionnaire (CPCQ). Construct validity was evaluated through correlation with responses to a global coordination item and a satisfaction scale and the testing of two a prior hypotheses: i) coordination scores would decrease with increasing numbers of providers and ii) coordination scores would decrease with increasing numbers of long-term conditions. Results: The concept analysis suggested that coordination should be considered as a process for the organisation of patient care characterised by: purposeful activity, information exchange, knowledge of roles and responsibilities, and responsiveness to change. The systematic review identified 5 existing measures of coordination and a further 10 measures which incorporated a coordination subscale. Only one demonstrated conceptual coverage but had poor psychometric properties. A new instrument was therefore developed and tested as described above. 299 completed surveys were returned. Respondents were predominantly elderly and of white ethnicity; approximately half were female. Five items were deleted following item analyses. Model analysis suggested a four factor two-level model of coordination comprising of 18 items. This correlated well with the CPCQ, the global coordination item and satisfaction scale. The a priori hypotheses were upheld. Retest reliability was acceptable at the patient group level. Conclusions: The CCQ has demonstrated good psychometric characteristics in terms of item responses, reliability and construct validity. Further exploration of these properties is required in a larger, more diverse sample before it can be recommended for widespread use, but it shows potential utility in the evaluation of different approaches to coordinating care.

Healthcare quality remains a significant issue due to fragmentation of care in our complex U.S. healthcare systems. While coordination of care is foundational to healthcare quality as well as identified as a National Priority, fragmentation and uncoordinated care continues to afflict our systems. The purpose of this study was to explore the relationship between relational coordination and adverse nurse sensitive patient outcomes, namely hospital acquired pressure ulcers, patient falls with injury, catheter- associated urinary tract infection, and central line-associated blood stream infection. A retrospective correlational survey design using cross sectional data was used to conduct this quantitative study. An electronic relational coordination survey was sent to 1124 eligible registered nurses from 43 nursing units within a 5-hospital magnet-designated healthcare system to gather their perception of the strength of relationship and communication ties of their work team. The nurse practice environment as well as nurse education were control variables. With 406 nurses who completed the survey (36% response rate), findings revealed that the stronger relational coordination ties are amongst the healthcare team, the lower the rate of adverse nurse sensitive patient outcomes as indicated by their inverse relationship. (rs=-.31, p=.050). In a Negative Binomial Regression model, relational coordination was a significant predictor (?-1.890, p=.034) of nurse sensitive patient outcomes whereas nurse education level (p=.859) and nurse practice environment (p=.230) were not. Data affirms that relational coordination, a relationship and communication intensive form of coordination does impact patient outcomes. This research provides significant information to health care leaders and institutions with goals of improving patient care outcomes through enhancement of coordination of care and optimization of healthcare teams.

A rise in chronic conditions has put a strain on our healthcare system. Treatment for chronic conditions spans time, agencies, and providers, making coordination a complex problem. Information systems such as electronic health records should be helping with the challenge of coordination, but research shows that often they do not. This thesis aims to alleviate this problem by examining the design of health information technology with an emphasis on social and organizational processes. The focus of this thesis is on the implications of continuous care over time: the shift from a single provider to team-based services, the emergence of patients and families as primary caregivers in the home, and the diffusion of data-driven decision making. I investigated these trends to understand the role of data in coordinating long-term care, and inform the design of information systems. I studied behavioral and mental health services for children, which are coordinated across clinical, home, and special education settings. I found coordination that was unstructured, unpredictable, and adaptive. I developed a conceptual framework, collaborative reflection, to describe my observations and distinguish my findings from the processes of time-critical and protocol-based care. I also found ways in which coordination was not data-driven, due to a lack of support and tools. Collaborative reflection thus illustrates how long-term coordination works when it is data-driven, informing a discussion of what is needed for coordination to be data-driven. Based on the process of collaborative reflection, and using participatory design, I developed Lilypad—a tablet-based information system for data-driven coordination. I conducted a five-month deployment study of Lilypad in the field, to examine its social impact. This study validated designing for collaborative reflection to improve the use of data in coordination. The contributions of this thesis are: a description of unstructured and informal workflow that drives long-term coordination in health services; the theoretical construct of collaborative reflection to inform the design of systems that improve coordination; a field deployment validation, demonstrating how designing for collaborative reflection improves coordination and avoids common unintended consequences of health information technology.

The diploma thesis is focused on the one hand on the ways of the coordination of the multidisciplinary teams and the interdisciplinary cooperation of the professionals helping people with eating disorders (EDs) and on the other hand on the challenges that these professionals are facing and what are their solutions. The findings of the empirical part are based on a qualitative research using mostly semi-structured interviews with 17 professionals. Most of the professionals from the nonprofit type of organizations and from the treatment facilities had one permanent coordinator and they used regular team meetings as a part of the coordination. On the other hand the professionals with their private practice cooperating with each other were choosing the coordinator case by case or had none at all and they shared the information mostly irregularly by phone or email. The most frequent challenges of this cooperation were its time, financial, energy and coordination consuming character, insufficient knowledge or experience of some other professionals regarding EDs or their unwillingness to cooperate, myths about EDs or a disharmony among the cooperating professionals. The recommendations for practice are: a careful selection of the colleagues according to their competence, similar views and willingness to...

Interprofessional collaboration among school-based and community-based mental health providers in children's mental has been studied in relation to specific providers and as part of program evaluation; however, limited information exists as to how to overcome barriers to collaborative relationships. This study describes the experiences of school and community mental health service providers and those who supervise them. Using phenomenological methodology, three focus-group interview transcripts were analyzed by identifying recurrent themes relevant to the experience of collaboration from school and community providers' perspectives. Although participants viewed aspects of collaboration positively, barriers frequently interfered with collaborative relationships. Support for collaboration from state, district or organization administration was considered necessary for widespread collaboration across settings. To reduce time constraints on existing school staff, school-based professionals suggested it may be necessary to employ additional staff to manage collaborative relationships. Participants' ideas for funding included cutting costs, reducing risks, and grant writing. Jointly developing procedures, increasing accessibility by having services available within the school setting, and collecting outcome data regularly to share with stakeholders were discussed. Understanding the experiences of collaboration among school and community mental health providers has the potential to ignite social change by helping schools and community agencies overcome barriers to collaboration through improved coordination of services for children with unmet mental health needs.

Submitted by Maria Creuza Silva (mariakreuza@yahoo.com.br) on 2014-10-03T20:08:39Z No. of bitstreams: 1 Dissertação Ítalo Aleluia 2014.pdf: 1488292 bytes, checksum: 41a84354d4fb57a9e3c4f06127ed6fa4 (MD5) / Approved for entry into archive by Maria Creuza Silva (mariakreuza@yahoo.com.br) on 2014-10-07T14:10:34Z (GMT) No. of bitstreams: 1 Dissertação Ítalo Aleluia 2014.pdf: 1488292 bytes, checksum: 41a84354d4fb57a9e3c4f06127ed6fa4 (MD5) / Made available in DSpace on 2014-10-07T14:10:34Z (GMT). No. of bitstreams: 1 Dissertação Ítalo Aleluia 2014.pdf: 1488292 bytes, checksum: 41a84354d4fb57a9e3c4f06127ed6fa4 (MD5) / A crescente prevalência das condições crônicas no cenário epidemiológico brasileiro exige transformações na organização dos serviços de saúde que viabilizem melhorias na integração e continuidade do cuidado. A Atenção Primária à Saúde (APS) assumiu papel prioritário para integrar cuidados, serviços e informações, e tem como atributo fundamental a coordenação do cuidado. Embora o processo de coordenar o cuidado seja colocado como atributo fundamental da APS, cumprir essa função ainda é uma tarefa de difícil operacionalização em diversos municípios brasileiros. Esse estudo teve como objetivo avaliar a coordenação do cuidado no âmbito da APS em um município do Estado da Bahia. Trata-se de um estudo de caso único, com dois níveis de análise, em duas equipes de Saúde da Família. Considerou-se com fontes primárias de evidência as informações registradas no diário de campo do pesquisador, dados obtidos mediante entrevistas semiestruturadas com profissionais, gestores e usuários da APS e, como fontes secundárias, o banco de dados do PMAQ-AB, a análise dos documentos da Secretaria Municipal de Saúde e das equipes de APS. Para avaliar a coordenação do cuidado, foram selecionadas condições traçadoras (a hipertensão e o diabetes) e elaborou-se uma imagem objetivo, com vistas a analisar comparativamente as equipes e estimar em que medida os critérios da coordenação do cuidado, adotados nesse estudo, têm sido cumpridos (ou não) por ambas. Adotou-se como categorias de análise o planejamento da assistência, a padronização de condutas, o referenciamento, a comunicação e o monitoramento do usuário. Os resultados evidenciaram que a coordenação do cuidado não tem sido cumprida por ambas as equipes, e que houve maior dificuldade para o cumprimento dos critérios relativos à padronização de condutas e à comunicação entre profissionais e serviços de saúde. A falta de protocolos assistenciais, a ausência de critérios para estratificação de riscos e o desconhecimento dos demais profissionais da rede, pelos profissionais da APS, dificultaram o compartilhamento de saberes e responsabilidades na construção de planos de cuidados. A ausência de registros informatizados e o descuido com os registros manuais da atenção prestada, certamente comprometeram a qualidade e a continuidade das informações assistenciais. A falta de tecnologias telecomunicativas e os problemas de articulação entre os serviços da rede colaboraram para a baixa comunicabilidade entre os níveis de atenção. Por fim, a ausência de sistemas informatizados, a desorganização e a insuficiência na oferta de exames e consultas restringiram o referenciamento vertical dos usuários, com baixa capacidade das equipes gerenciarem as filas de espera e monitorarem os fluxos e contrafluxos assistenciais. Considera-se de suma importância a implantação de sistemas informatizados e de tecnologias de telecomunicação; a criação e adoção de protocolos assistenciais, de estratégias de capacitação profissional, de avaliação e monitoramento regular dos serviços, que possam refletir sobre a capacidade das equipes de APS coordenarem o cuidado ao usuário. Reitera-se a importância de novas pesquisas que investiguem outros casos da microrregião, com eixos investigativos centrados na coordenação do cuidado e que considerem as relações e os conflitos do processo de trabalho entre os serviços e os profissionais dos três níveis de atenção.

Made available in DSpace on 2011-05-04T12:42:05Z (GMT). No. of bitstreams: 0 Previous issue date: 2010 / A coordenação dos cuidados é um tema pendente tanto para os países europeus, quanto para países latinoamericanos. Mudanças no perfil epidemiológico, sobretudo, predomínio das doenças crônicas e a reconhecida fragmentação dos sistemas de saúde e a descontinuidade na prestação do cuidado tornaram premente a busca de soluções. A coordenação dos cuidados pode ser definida como a articulação entre os diversos serviços e ações relacionados à atenção em saúde de forma que, independentemente do local onde sejam prestados, estejam sincronizados e voltados ao alcance de um objetivo comum. O presente estudo teve por objetivo descrever e analisar o desenvolvimento de estratégias e instrumentos de coordenação dos cuidados em municípios brasileiros com experiências exitosas de expansão e consolidação da Estratégia Saúde da Família (ESF) com base em dois eixos: fortalecimento da Atenção Primária à Saúde (APS) e integração entre níveis assistenciais . Partiu-se de duas premissas. Somente uma APS fortalecida em seus atributos essenciais poderia assumir a coordenação doscuidados. Logo, nos interessou saber quais as iniciativas empreendidas pelos municípios brasileiros para fortalecer a ESF. Segundo, sendo a integração da rede um elemento necessário para alcançar melhor coordenação dos cuidados, quais as estratégias e instrumentos desenvolvidos por grandes centros urbanos para integrar a ESF aos demais níveis do sistema? Os municípios analisados foram Aracaju, Belo Horizonte, Florianópolis e Vitória. A consolidação de uma APS forte foi avaliada pela posição ocupada pela ESF no sistema de saúde, capacidade de resolução, reconhecimento profissional e social de seus trabalhadores, descentralização das ações de saúde coletiva para a APS e conseqüentes reflexos no acesso e utilização dos serviços. As estratégias de integração entre níveis assistenciais foram descritas e analisadas com base na identificação das estruturas de regulação da rede de serviços de saúde, instrumentos de integração e de continuidade informacional e organização de fluxos. Neste estudo não tivemos como objetivo medir ou avaliar a coordenação dos cuidados em si, mas descrever e analisar elementos que contribuam para sua consecução. Os resultados apresentados são produtos de três fontes principais, trianguladas para responder às perguntas de investigação: entrevistas com gestores e estudos transversais com aplicação de questionários a amostra de famílias cadastradas e profissionais das equipes de Saúde da Família. Os resultados apontam que em todos os municípios foram identificadas ações para fortalecer as estruturas de APS no contexto do Sistema Único de Saúde, em etapas distintas de implementação. As iniciativas mais exitosas foram aquelas que buscaram ampliar a acessibilidade, consolidar a função de porta de entrada, aumentar sua capacidade resolutiva e articular medidas de saúde pública, vigilância e assistência. Ainda assim, permanecem desafios para melhor equalizar atendimento à demanda espontânea e à programada de formamais resolutiva e para tornar a Unidade de Saúde da Família o serviço de uso regular. A baixa credibilidade e o insuficiente reconhecimento dos profissionais de atenção primária representam obstáculo à coordenação dos cuidados por esse nível de atenção. Em relação à integração da rede, estratégias semelhantes, com resultados diferenciados, foram encontradasnos quatro casos como investimentos em sistemas informatizados e descentralizados de regulação, monitoramento das filas de espera, aumento da oferta de serviços próprios municipais, implantação de protocolos clínicos e prontuários eletrônicos. Ainda assim, a ausência de regulação e de fluxos formais para a atenção hospitalar torna incompleto o processo de integração da rede. A insuficiência na oferta de atenção especializada, agravada pela pouca integração entre prestadores estaduais e municipais foi outra dificuldade identificada. A quase ausência de contra-referência também minimiza as possibilidades de coordenação dos cuidados pela equipe de APS. O retrato oferecido pela pesquisa mostra que Belo Horizonte e Vitória apresentaram sistematicamente melhores resultados na avaliação de profissionais e usuários em relação aos dois eixos de análise. Pode-se afirmar que a APS se fortaleceu e está mais integrada à rede nos casos estudados, embora ainda não seja acoordenadora de todo o ciclo de cuidados. A necessidade de estabelecer objetivos comuns, de forma que o cuidado em saúde tenha o usuário como centro e seja organizado de acordo com suas expectativas pessoais e necessidades em saúde, componentes do atributo da coordenação, aponta alguns caminhos para a construção de um Sistema Único de Saúde mais equânime, de melhor qualidade e voltado às necessidades de saúde da população. / Coordination of care is an issue pending in both European and Latin American countries. Changes in epidemiological profile, particularly the predominance of chronic diseases, plus the acknowledged fragmentation in health systems and discontinuity in care, recommend urgent solutions. Coordination of care can be defined as an interrelationship among healthcare-related services and actions such that, regardless of where they occur, they are synchronised and directed to achieving a common purpose. The intention of this study was to describe and analyse the development of strategies and instruments for coordinating care in Brazilian municipalities with successful experience in expanding and consolidating the Family Health Strategy (Estratégia Saúde da Família, ESF) through two key axis: “strengthening Primary Health Care” (PHC) and “integrating among levels of care”. The study rests on two assumptions. Firstly, only PHC that is strong in its essential attributes will be capable of coordinating care. It was therefore of interest to learn what measures Brazilian municipalities had taken to strengthen the ESF. Secondly, given that system integration is a necessary element for achieving improved coordination of care, what strategies and instruments have been developed for integrating the ESF with the other system levels in major urban centres? The municipalities studied were Aracaju, Belo Horizonte, Florianópolis and Vitória. Whether or not strong” PHC had been established was evaluated in terms of the position the ESF occupied in the health system, its resolution capacity, professional’s and social’s recognition of health workers, the decentralisation of collective health measures to PHC and the consequences as reflected in service access and use. Strategies for integration among levels of care were described and analysed by identifying structures for regulating the health service system, instruments for information integration and continuity, and flow organisation. This study was not intended to measure or evaluate coordination of care as such, but to describe and analyse elements that contribute to that end. The results presented draw on three main sources – interviews of managers and transverse studies using questionnaires applied to samples of families enrolled and Family Health team workers – which were triangulated to answer the research questions. The results show that measures to strengthen PHC structures were identified, at different stages of implementation, in the context of the Unified Health System (Sistema Único de Saúde, SUS) in all the municipalities. The most successful initiatives were those seeking to expand accessibility, consolidate the gateway function, increase resolution capacity and coordinate among public health, surveillance and care measures. Nonetheless, challenges remain for care to meet spontaneous demand better and to be planned to achieve higher rates of resolution and make the Family Health Unit the service of first resort. Primary health care workers' low credibility and lack of professional recognition represent obstacles to coordination of care through this service level. As regards system integration, similar strategies with differing outcomes were encountered in the four cases, such as investment in computerised, decentralised regulation systems, waiting list monitoring, increased supply of the municipalities' own services, and introduction of clinical protocols and electronic patient records. All the same, the lack of regulation and of formal flows for hospital care renders the process of network integration incomplete. Another difficulty identified was insufficient supply of specialised care, aggravated by the low degree of integration among state and municipal providers. The near absence of counter-referral also lessens the likelihood of care being coordinated by the PHC team. The picture offered by the study shows that Belo Horizonte and Vitória score systematically better in health workers' and users' evaluations as regards the two dimensions of analysis. PHC has been strengthened and is better integrated into the health system in the cases studied, although it is not yet coordinating the overall care cycle. The need to set common goals, so that health care centres on users and is organised to meet their personal expectations and health needs, which are components of the coordination function, signals some paths to building a Unified Health System that is more equitable, higher quality and directed to the health needs of the population.