L to R: Yohualli B. Anaya, MD, MPH; David Rakel, MD; and Jennifer Edgoose, MD, MPH.
Congratulations to Yohualli B. Anaya, MD, MPH (Associate Professor, CHS) and David Rakel, MD (Professor, Department Chair) on having their essay, “Face-to-Face Relationships Still Matter in a Digital Age: A Call for a 5th C in the Core Tenets of Primary Care,” published in the September/October 2024 issue of Annals of Family Medicine. The essay’s primary author is former faculty member Jennifer Y.C. Edgoose, MD, MPH.
The essay argues for a fifth tenet of “contiguity” to be added to the four core tenets of primary care identified by Barbara Starfield: first contact, comprehensiveness, coordination, and continuity. Contiguity refers to the physical proximity between a patient and their clinician which builds trust and fosters genuine relationships. Though telehealth and artificial intelligence become more prevalent in health care, they cannot replace the human connection that occurs when patients and clinicians are physically present with each other. Naming contiguity as a core tenet of primary care ensures stakeholders don’t lose sight of this foundational component of patient-clinician relationships.
Annals of Family Medicine is an open access, peer-reviewed research journal dedicated to advancing knowledge essential to understanding and improving health and primary care and supports a learning community of those who generate and use information about health and generalist health care.
Published: September 2024