An overview on the history and concept of care pathways as complex interventions
- 1 September 2010
- journal article
- research article
- Published by SAGE Publications in International Journal of Care Pathways
- Vol. 14 (3), 117-123
- https://doi.org/10.1258/jicp.2010.010019
Abstract
Care pathways, also known as clinical pathways, critical pathways or integrated care pathways, are used all over the world. Although they are used internationally, there are still a large number of misunderstandings. The goal of this paper is to provide an overview on the history of pathways and how pathways are actually perceived and defined. Pathways are more than just a document in the patient record. They are a concept for making patient-focused care operational and supporting the modelling of patient groups with different levels of predictability. Pathways are a method within the field of continuous quality improvement and are used in daily practice as a product in the patient record. This paper explains these different issues and provides an extensive list of references that should support pathway facilitators, clinicians, managers and policy-makers in their search for excellence.Keywords
This publication has 51 references indexed in Scilit:
- Effects of clinical pathways in the joint replacement: a meta-analysisBMC Medicine, 2009
- Effect of Introducing a Care Pathway to Standardize Treatment and Nursing of SchizophreniaCommunity Mental Health Journal, 2009
- Global priorities for patient safety researchBMJ, 2009
- A cluster randomized trial to assess the impact of clinical pathways for patients with stroke: rationale and design of the Clinical Pathways for Effective and Appropriate Care Study [NCT00673491]BMC Health Services Research, 2008
- Reducing Stroke In-Hospital Mortality: Organized Care Is a Complex InterventionStroke, 2008
- A cluster randomized controlled trial of a clinical pathway for hospital treatment of heart failure: study design and populationBMC Health Services Research, 2007
- Designing and evaluating complex interventions to improve health careBMJ, 2007
- What is "quality improvement" and how can it transform healthcare?Quality and Safety in Health Care, 2007
- Care pathways in obstetrics: the effectiveness in reducing the incidence of episiotomy in childbirthJournal of Nursing Management, 2006
- Adverse outcomes in Belgian acute hospitals: retrospective analysis of the national hospital discharge datasetInternational Journal for Quality in Health Care, 2006