Continuity of Care A Personal Voyage

by Bob Osenenko Ed.D.
(Neptune,New Jersey US)

Carol Stickney and Opal Bristow published a book (let) entitled "Discharge Planning and Continuity of Care". Carol had gotten sick later in life and needed the continuity of care she so struggled with as a nurse professor in Virginia. As living tribute to them I did a dissertation then encouraged by the US Army Medical Department which is available at Argosy University, Argosy University-Sarasota in Sarasota. Continuity of care research throughout hospitals in New Jersey at the time (1991) was a two part issue; education and the desire for community to care. In that environment it was relatively easy to approach continuity of care issues, especially in pediatrics. Since then discharge planning became more of a "mechanical process" connected to lawsuits that were being waged in its name. But outside of dramatic deaths and their accounts continuity of care had problems gaining traction with lawmakers. It was and is always a personal issue, but in legislature it was never assumed to be a real need for people. To tell the honest truth we have grown as a society technologically but rarely do I see concern for continuity of care as a community issue. But it was always a community care issue for nursing and social work as a professional function only. We've somehow advanced much beyond caring for one another as we once did as a society. But I would wager that just as I pursued continuity of care and later taught it there would be personal opportunity for someone to pursue it again.

Dr.Bob Osenenko
www.medicareservices.us

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