Relational Continuity of Chronic Patients with Primary and Secondary Care Doctors: A Study of Public Healthcare Networks of Six Latin American Countries

Verónica Espinel-Flores, Gabriela Tiburcio-Lara, Ingrid Vargas (), Pamela Eguiguren, Amparo-Susana Mogollón-Pérez, Marina Ferreira- de-Medeiros-Mendes, Julieta López-Vázquez, Fernando Bertolotto, Delia Amarilla and María-Luisa Vázquez
Additional contact information
Verónica Espinel-Flores: Health Policy and Health Services Research Group, Health Policy Research Unit, Consortium for Health Care and Social Services of Catalonia, Avinguda Tibidabo 21, ES08022 Barcelona, Spain
Gabriela Tiburcio-Lara: Health Policy and Health Services Research Group, Health Policy Research Unit, Consortium for Health Care and Social Services of Catalonia, Avinguda Tibidabo 21, ES08022 Barcelona, Spain
Ingrid Vargas: Health Policy and Health Services Research Group, Health Policy Research Unit, Consortium for Health Care and Social Services of Catalonia, Avinguda Tibidabo 21, ES08022 Barcelona, Spain
Pamela Eguiguren: Escuela de Salud Pública Dr. Salvador Allende Gossens, Universidad de Chile, Independencia 939, Santiago de Chile, Chile
Amparo-Susana Mogollón-Pérez: Escuela de Medicina y Ciencias de la Salud, Universidad del Rosario, Cra 24 No. 63C-69, Quinta Mutis, Bogotá 11001, Colombia
Marina Ferreira- de-Medeiros-Mendes: Grupo de Estudos de Gestão e Avaliação em Saúde, Instituto de Medicina Integral Professor Fernando Figueira, Rua Dos Coelhos No. 300, Boa Vista, Recife 50070-550, Brazil
Julieta López-Vázquez: Instituto de Salud Pública, Universidad Veracruzana, Av. Dr. Luis Castelazo Ayala s/n Col. Industrial Ánimas, Xalapa 91190, Mexico
Fernando Bertolotto: Facultad de Enfermería, Universidad de la República, Avenida 18 de Julio 124, Montevideo 11200, Uruguay
Delia Amarilla: Maestría en Salud Pública, Centro de Estudios Interdisciplinarios, Universidad Nacional de Rosario, Maipú 1065, Rosario 2000, Argentina
María-Luisa Vázquez: Health Policy and Health Services Research Group, Health Policy Research Unit, Consortium for Health Care and Social Services of Catalonia, Avinguda Tibidabo 21, ES08022 Barcelona, Spain

IJERPH, 2022, vol. 19, issue 20, 1-13

Abstract: Despite relational continuity (RC) with the doctor being key to care quality for chronic patients, particularly in fragmented healthcare systems, like many in Latin America (LA), little is known about RC and its attributes, particularly regarding specialists. Aim: We aim to analyse chronic patients’ perceptions of RC with primary (PC) and secondary (SC) care doctors, and record changes between 2015 and 2017 in the public healthcare networks of six LA countries. An analysis of two cross-sectional studies applying the CCAENA questionnaire to chronic patients (N = 4881) was conducted in Argentina, Brazil, Chile, Colombia, Mexico, and Uruguay. The dependent variables of RC with PC and SC doctors were: consistency, trust, effective communication, and synthetic indexes based on RC attributes. Descriptive and multivariate analyses were performed. Although the RC index was high in 2015, especially in PC in all countries, and at both levels in Argentina and Uruguay, low perceived consistency of PC and SC doctors in Colombia and Chile and of SC doctors in Mexico revealed important areas for improvement. In 2017 the RC index of SC doctors increased in Chile and Mexico, while SC doctors’ consistency in Colombia decreased. This study reveals important gaps in achieving RC with doctors, particularly in SC, which requires further structural and organisational reforms.

Keywords: continuity of care; continuity of patient care; longitudinality; doctor–patient relations; primary health care; secondary health care; Latin America (search for similar items in EconPapers)
JEL-codes: I I1 I3 Q Q5 (search for similar items in EconPapers)
Date: 2022
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Persistent link: https://EconPapers.repec.org/RePEc:gam:jijerp:v:19:y:2022:i:20:p:13008-:d:938691

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