Schers HJ. Continuity 50 years on: what has beem achieved? Huisarts Wet 2006;49(12):611-4.
Continuity of care is one of the cornerstones of general practice. In this article, different concepts of continuity of care are demonstrated. Current research focuses primarily on personal continuity, whilst informational and team continuity are hardly studied. Evidence is lacking that continuity leads to a higher quality of care, although there is much circumstantial evidence that it is correlated to higher levels of patient satisfaction, more trust in the physician and a higher degree of patient enablement. World-wide, continuity has a place in vision projects of general practice organisations. In the future, the meaning of continuity will shift from the emphasis on personal continuity towards more emphasis on team and informational continuity.