What methodology evaluates the continuum of care from admission to post-discharge?

The tracer methodology is specifically designed to evaluate the continuum of care by tracking individual patient experiences through the healthcare system. It focuses on how care is delivered from the point of admission through to post-discharge, assessing the quality and coordination of services provided at each stage. This approach not only highlights how well care processes work in practice but also identifies any gaps or areas needing improvement within the entire care continuum.

In contrast, root cause analysis is primarily used to investigate underlying factors that contribute to adverse events or errors in healthcare delivery, rather than evaluating overall patient care pathways. Case control studies and cross-sectional studies are research methodologies employed to examine relationships between variables or conditions at a specific point in time or over a specified period, but they do not focus on the continuous evaluation of patient care from admission to discharge and beyond in the same detailed manner as the tracer methodology.