Continuity of care is defined as the continuation of care of a patient over time by multiple health care providers (Continuity, 2005). Continuum of care is defined as care of a patient over time from preventive medicine to early intervention to acute care, through rehabilitation, from the hospital to the home, and involving community services and medical and social aspects of care (Continuum, 2005). Continuity of care is multidimensional and has been used to describe many different relationships between health care providers and patients such as availability of information and constancy of physician, keeping followup appointments, and the transition of one setting to another, e.g. the hospital to home (Continuity, 2000). The transition from one setting to another is usually referred to as the continuum of care. In the hospital, continuity refers to the coordination of patient care and communication with the person in charge who will have responsibility for the patient throughout their episode of illness.
In ambulatory care, continuity refers to whether all the information on the patient - history, tests, medications, visits, etc. - is available to all clinicians who are caring for the patient (Continuity, 2000). Clinical continuity refers to the proportion of visits to a particular physician. In the definition of primary care proposed by a 1996 IOM report, record and clinical continuity were used to explain continuity. Recent nursing literature refers to continuity of nurses in hospital units and hospices. The American Academy of pediatrics defines continuity as "accessible, continuous, comprehensive, family-centered, coordinated, and compassionate," "delivered or directed by well-trained physicians who are able to manage or facilitate essentially all aspects of pediatric care," involving physicians who, "should be known to the child and family and able to develop a relationship of mutual responsibility and trust with the...