title: What elements of the informational, management, and relational continuity are associated with patient satisfaction with rehabilitation care and global rating change?
abstract: OBJECTIVE
  To describe the quality of patients' continuity experiences in a population of outpatients receiving postacute rehabilitation care, and to check which elements and types of continuity most strongly determine their satisfaction with care and functional changes.
  
  
  METHODS
  Cross-sectional self-report survey.
  
  
  METHODS
  Three postacute ambulatory centers in metropolitan areas.
  
  
  METHODS
  Outpatients (N=218; mean age ± SD, 38.5±11.7y).
  
  
  METHODS
  Not applicable.
  
  
  METHODS
  The questionnaire included experiences regarding aspects of informational (transference of information, accumulated knowledge), management (consistency and flexibility of care), and relational (established relation and consistency of provider) continuity, as well as questions concerning patients' sociodemographic characteristics, satisfaction with care, and global rating change.
  
  
  RESULTS
  Respondents indicated more problems in terms of management and relational continuity than in informational continuity. For all patient groups, experiences regarding elements of management continuity (R(2)=15.3%-22.4%), followed by relational continuity (R(2)=14.3%-25.2%), explained most of the variance of satisfaction. Consistency and flexibility of care, together with an established relation, were the most determining elements of satisfaction. Experiences regarding elements of management continuity explained most of the variance of change (18.5%), and flexibility was the most decisive element.
  
  
  CONCLUSIONS
  Patient satisfaction and functional changes are related with experiences in aspects of management continuity, where there is room for improvement. Measures of management continuity may be promising as indicators of continuity, and they should be prioritized.
authors: Department of Physical Therapy, Regional Campus of International Excellence "Campus Mare Nostrum", University of Murcia, Murcia, Spain. Electronic address: mirapeix@um.es.
authors: Francesc
authors: F
authors: Medina-Mirapeix
authors: Silvana L
authors: SL
authors: Oliveira-Sousa
authors: Marta
authors: M
authors: Sobral-Ferreira
authors: Joaquina
authors: J
authors: Montilla-Herrador
authors: Francisco J
authors: FJ
authors: Jimeno-Serrano
authors: Pilar
authors: P
authors: Escolar-Reina
mesh_terms: D000328:Adult; D000368:Aged; D003266:Continuity of Patient Care / Q000458:organization & administration* / Q000592:standards*; D003430:Cross-Sectional Studies; D005260:Female; D006801:Humans; D016015:Logistic Models; D008297:Male; D008875:Middle Aged; D017060:Patient Satisfaction; D011787:Quality of Health Care; D012046:Rehabilitation / Q000458:organization & administration* / Q000592:standards*; D055815:Young Adult
keywords: CI; Continuity of patient care; Outpatients; Patient satisfaction; Rehabilitation; confidence interval