Epilepsy & behavior : E&B
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Epilepsy & behavior : E&B · Aug 2019
Measuring coordination of epilepsy care: A mixed methods evaluation of social network analysis versus relational coordination.
Coordination of multidisciplinary care is critical to address the complex needs of people with neurological disorders; however, quality improvement and research tools to measure coordination of neurological care are not well-developed. This study explored and compared the value of social network analysis (SNA) and relational coordination (RC) in measuring coordination of care in a neurology setting. The Department of Veterans Affairs Healthcare System (VA) established an Epilepsy Centers of Excellence (ECOE) hub and spoke model of care, which provides a setting to measure coordination of care across networks of providers. ⋯ For quality improvement and research purposes, SNA and RC can be used to measure coordination of neurological care; RC provides a detailed assessment of the quality of communication within and across healthcare teams but is difficult to administer and analyze; SNA provides large scale coordination of care maps and metrics to compare across large healthcare systems. The two measures provide complimentary coordination of care data at a local as well as population level. Interviews describe the mechanisms of developing and sustaining health professional networks that are not captured in either SNA or RC measures.