Merry McBryde-Foster1, Toni Allen. 1. Louise Herrington School of Nursing, Baylor University, Dallas, Texas 75246, USA. merry_mcbryde-foster@baylor.edu
Abstract
AIMS: The aim of this paper is to communicate attributes, antecedents, and consequences identified within the 'continuum of care' using the process of concept development. BACKGROUND: The term 'continuum of care' is embedded in health care experience and is consistently taken for granted in health care literature without adequate analysis or definition. METHODS: Using EndNote and MS Excel software, a sample of 153 articles from 638 nursing and allied health journal articles retrieved by electronic search were reviewed; keywords descriptive of the concept were manually extracted. An electronic library was created and searched for keyword frequencies and words were ranked and sorted into unifying categories. FINDINGS: Four major unifying categories of attributes: people, environment, events and time, were identified, described and encorporated into a definition of the concept. An exemplar case was identified. CONCLUSIONS: The continuum of care was identified as a concept with specific, describable attributes evidenced in an exemplar case.
AIMS: The aim of this paper is to communicate attributes, antecedents, and consequences identified within the 'continuum of care' using the process of concept development. BACKGROUND: The term 'continuum of care' is embedded in health care experience and is consistently taken for granted in health care literature without adequate analysis or definition. METHODS: Using EndNote and MS Excel software, a sample of 153 articles from 638 nursing and allied health journal articles retrieved by electronic search were reviewed; keywords descriptive of the concept were manually extracted. An electronic library was created and searched for keyword frequencies and words were ranked and sorted into unifying categories. FINDINGS: Four major unifying categories of attributes: people, environment, events and time, were identified, described and encorporated into a definition of the concept. An exemplar case was identified. CONCLUSIONS: The continuum of care was identified as a concept with specific, describable attributes evidenced in an exemplar case.