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

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.