The initial approach of the CALIBER programme is characterized as follows: (i) Linkages of multiple electronic heath record sources: examples include linkages between the longitudinal primary care data from the Clinical Practice Research Datalink, the Givinostat research buy national registry of acute coronary syndromes (Myocardial Ischaemia National Audit Project), hospitalization and procedure data from Hospital Episode Statistics and cause-specific mortality and social deprivation data from the Office of National Statistics. Current cohort analyses involve a million people in initially healthy populations

and disease registries with similar to 10(5) patients. (ii) Linkages of bespoke investigator-led cohort studies (e.g. UK Biobank) to registry data (e.g. Myocardial Ischaemia National Audit Project), providing new means of ascertaining, validating and phenotyping disease. (iii) A common data model in which routine electronic health record data are made research ready, and sharable, by defining and curating with meta-data > 300 variables (categorical, continuous, event) on risk factors, CVDs and non-cardiovascular comorbidities. (iv) Transparency: all CALIBER studies have an analytic protocol registered in the public domain, and data are available (safe haven model)

for use subject to approvals. For more information, e-mail [email protected]”
“Objective: To develop and pilot test a generic questionnaire to HKI-272 cost measure continuity

of care from the patient’s perspective across primary and secondary care settings.

Study Design and Setting: We developed the Nijmegen Continuity Questionnaire (NCQ) based on a systematic CB-839 literature review and analysis of 30 patient interviews. The questionnaire consisted of 16 items about the patient-provider relationship to be answered for five different care providers and 14 items each on the collaboration between four groups of care providers. The questionnaire was distributed among patients with a chronic disease recruited from general practice. We used principal component analysis (PCA) to identify subscales. We refined the factors by excluding several items, for example, items with a high missing rate.

Results: In total, 288 patients filled out the questionnaire (response rate, 72%). PCA yielded three subscales: “”personal continuity: care provider knows me,”" “”personal continuity: care provider shows commitment,”" and “”team/cross-boundary continuity.”" Internal consistency of the subscales ranged from 0.82 to 0.89. Interscale correlations varied between 0.42 and 0.61.

Conclusion: The NCQ shows to be a comprehensive, reliable, and valid instrument. Further testing of reliability, construct validity, and responsiveness is needed before the NCQ can be more widely implemented. (C) 2011 Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved.