Choosing a doctor can lengthen your life
Choosing a doctor can lengthen your life
Continuity in care is associated with greater patient satisfaction, improvements in health, greater effectiveness of medications and less use of the hospital.
The great advances medicine has made since the 19th century derive from research and better knowledge of the problems of physiopathology, its prevention and treatment. However, research and improvements focus on treating physical factors, while the human aspects of medical care have been forgotten. A new study has returned to this aspect of medicine the importance it deserves.
A recent publication of the medical journal 'BMJ Open' points out the relationship between the continuity of care and medical treatment and patient mortality, stating that the risk of mortality under any circumstance is reduced the longer the regular medical care. These conclusions would directly contradict the statements made by an editorial in the 'New England Journal of Medicine', where it was stated that non-personal care should be 'the default option' in medicine.
The continuity of care, as defined by the team responsible for the work, is the repeated contact between a patient and his doctor. Starting from this point, the team led by D.J. Pereira Gray has compiled the information from several studies and previous scientific works to answer the question 'Are the highest levels of continuity in medical care, in any situation, with any group of patients, associated with a change in mortality? '
With a total of 726 studies and publications in which medical care or mortality was treated, the team made a selection of 43 that should be reviewed for research. After discarding those in which continuity was not measured, in which the treatment was not done by a single doctor or group of doctors and in which mortality was not analyzed at any time; the research was reduced to 22 studies that fell within the desired parameters. The team proposed measures to counteract the risk of bias during the process and used the Newcastle-Ottawa Scale, designed to ensure the quality of a non-randomized scientific study.
Conclusions of the research
Of the 22 results, 18 (81.8% of the total) showed a clear direct relationship between the greater continuity of care and the lower mortality after these, indicating in 16 of them that the mortality from any cause was reduced. Three other studies showed no relationship between care and mortality, although the time scales in which they were developed were too short or the methods used insufficient to analyze the effects of the doctor-patient relationship. Finally, a single study showed contradictory results according to the type of continuity measures employed, which, despite being the only study that contradicts the others, is not conclusive.
The research reveals that continuity in medical care can be great advantages for patients in the long term. The relationship between doctor and patient over time will generate greater involvement by both parties that will ensure compliance and control of the treatment that is being followed. In addition, this monitoring will increase patient satisfaction, and this will generate a positive attitude that will affect their health status.
Although the great advances of medicine come from the hands of technology, human treatment remains a key piece and a matter of life and death.