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Integrated Care Pathways: effective tools for continuous evaluation of clinical practice

Integrated Care Pathways: effective tools for continuous evaluation of clinical practice The critical examination of clinical practice should be an integral part of patient care. It includes the development and implementation of guidelines, together with continuous evaluation of clinical process and outcomes to improve the quality of care provided. Clinical audit has not been successful in achieving this. The use of Integrated Care Pathways facilitates the introduction of guidelines and the continuous evaluation of clinical practice. Improvements are achieved by frequently revising the pathways to reflect current, local best practice. Integrated Care Pathways define the expected course of events in the care of a patient with a particular condition, within a set time‐scale. A pathway is divided into time intervals during which specific goals and expected progress are defined, together with appropriate investigations and treatment. A pathway reflects the activities of a multidisciplinary team and can incorporate established guidelines and evidence‐based medicine. It is usually unique to the institution in which it was developed. The pathway forms part of the clinical record of every patient. All variations from the pathway are documented, and the reasons for the variations analysed. Solutions are developed to address the causes of potentially avoidable variation, and the pathway is revised to incorporate these improvements. Integrated Care Pathways provide a powerful audit tool, as all aspects of the process and outcome of clinical practice can be constantly monitored. Variations from set standards are minimized, and improvements are rapidly incorporated into routine practice and subsequently re‐evaluated. http://www.deepdyve.com/assets/images/DeepDyve-Logo-lg.png Journal of Evaluation in Clinical Practice Wiley

Integrated Care Pathways: effective tools for continuous evaluation of clinical practice

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References (29)

Publisher
Wiley
Copyright
Copyright © 1996 Wiley Subscription Services, Inc., A Wiley Company
ISSN
1356-1294
eISSN
1365-2753
DOI
10.1111/j.1365-2753.1996.tb00028.x
Publisher site
See Article on Publisher Site

Abstract

The critical examination of clinical practice should be an integral part of patient care. It includes the development and implementation of guidelines, together with continuous evaluation of clinical process and outcomes to improve the quality of care provided. Clinical audit has not been successful in achieving this. The use of Integrated Care Pathways facilitates the introduction of guidelines and the continuous evaluation of clinical practice. Improvements are achieved by frequently revising the pathways to reflect current, local best practice. Integrated Care Pathways define the expected course of events in the care of a patient with a particular condition, within a set time‐scale. A pathway is divided into time intervals during which specific goals and expected progress are defined, together with appropriate investigations and treatment. A pathway reflects the activities of a multidisciplinary team and can incorporate established guidelines and evidence‐based medicine. It is usually unique to the institution in which it was developed. The pathway forms part of the clinical record of every patient. All variations from the pathway are documented, and the reasons for the variations analysed. Solutions are developed to address the causes of potentially avoidable variation, and the pathway is revised to incorporate these improvements. Integrated Care Pathways provide a powerful audit tool, as all aspects of the process and outcome of clinical practice can be constantly monitored. Variations from set standards are minimized, and improvements are rapidly incorporated into routine practice and subsequently re‐evaluated.

Journal

Journal of Evaluation in Clinical Practice – Wiley

Published: Feb 1, 1996

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