Journal of the Korean Academy of Family Medicine 1988;9(6):1-11.
Published online June 1, 1988.

일차의료기관 방문환자의 지속성지수에 관한 조사연구 -서울지역 의료보험환자를 대상으로-

김영열 오미경 이혜리 윤방부

연세대학교의과대학 가정의학교실

Abstract

Continuity is considered as an essential atribute of primary care but interruption and duplication are frequent in actual health care system. Continuity of care is conceptually defined as "personal responsibility neither limited by the nature of the illness nor by the time spent with the patient and uninterrupted succession of events consistent with the medical care needs of patients." Several authors proposed various statistial measures for quantifying the continuity and studied the relationshop between continuity and it's determinants.
Although controversy exists in the relationship between the continuity and the quality of care, there have been increasing evidences suggesting the continuity of care brings better outcomes.
This study was carried out to estimate the scores of some continuity indiices and investigate the relationship between these indices and type of illness and characteristics of patients and providers using the records of medical insurance patients(527 persons) visiting primary care units in Seoul, Korea. The selected continuity indices in this study were UPC(usual provider continuity), COC(continuity of care), CI(continuity index), MCI(modified contunity index), and MMCI(modified modified contunity index).
Major findings are as follows:
1. The mean of UPC, COC, CI, MCI and MMCI were 0.464, 0.496, 5.932, 0.672 and 0.763 repectively.
2. The scores of continuity indices for chronic illness were higher than acute illness, statistically significant in COC, CI and MMCI.
3. Age groups of 14 years or younger and 45 years or older had higher scores of continuity indices than other remained age group but statistically significant n MCI and MMCI only Male had higher scores than female, significant in CI, MCI and MMCI.
4. There was no relationship between scores of UPC and age, sex, board certification of providers and duration of practice at present location.