Question

• 1st paragraph: What are the health care entities involved in Joey's continuum of care? Identify and describe these entities and the order in which they become involved in his lifelong continuum of care. ( 270 words NO PLAGIARISM PLEASE )
• 2nd paragraph: What are the information needs of each of his care providers? What are some of the challenges involved with capturing and utilizing this required information? ( 270 words NO PLAGIARISM PLEASE )

Answer 1

The idea of "continuum of care" is not new, nor does it always apply to healthcare. In some communities, a continuum of care refers to solutions to homelessness. Globally, the term has been used to refer to services for pregnant women from prenatal care through childbirth and parenting. However the term is used, it refers to bundled care options that follow an individual through time, adapting to their changing needs.

In healthcare, the continuum of care is now being used to describe how healthcare providers follow a patient from preventive care, through medical incidents, rehabilitation, and maintenance. Depending on the patient, this might involve the use of acute care hospitals, ambulatory care, or long-term care facilities. The coordinated effort to medical care means better outcomes for the patient

Effective treatment over the continuum of care requires attention to many moving parts. Not only does the medical care need to be coordinated between a variety of providers, the financing and record-keeping must also be efficient and accessible. The advent of electronic health records, managed care (quality of care), and payer networks have helped the logistics involved in supporting the continuum of care.

How does infection impact the continuum of care? As we all know, the risk of acquiring a healthcare associated infection depends on the patient and the treatment. However, if a patient's care is coordinated among all his or her providers - their primary physician, their surgeon, their rehabilitation team, etc. - any symptom of infection has a greater chance of being caught and treated early.

Unfortunately, even the most coordinated care is still vulnerable to the transmission of pathogens via healthcare worker hands and environmental surfaces. If the entire network of healthcare providers can work towards the same best practices, including hand hygiene and adoption of proven technologies, then we will begin to see effective infection control - across the entire continuum of care.