title: Critical pathways: effectiveness in achieving patient outcomes.
abstract: Refining the clinical care process to produce high-quality patient outcomes is becoming increasingly important as health care administrators strive for success in a mature managed care environment. This study examines the effect of structuring interventions and the evaluation of patient response, inherent in the critical pathway process, on clinical, length-of-hospital-stay, and financial patient outcomes. This study differs from previous critical pathway trials in that an objective measure of quality was used and the critical pathways were not introduced concurrently with a case management delivery model. The results show that critical pathways may be a significant determinant of improved quality in a managed care environment. The findings also suggest ways to improve nursing practice, nursing education, and nursing informatics.
authors.affiliation: University of Kentucky Hospital, Lexington, USA. clireson%taonode@mvs.hosp.uky.edu
authors.forename: C L
authors.initials: CL
authors.lastname: Ireson
mesh_terms: D019091:Critical Pathways / Q000706:statistics & numerical data; D006622:Hip Prosthesis / Q000451:nursing; D006745:Hospital Bed Capacity, 300 to 499; D006785:Hospitals, University / Q000592:standards*; D006801:Humans; D007629:Kentucky; D007720:Knee Prosthesis / Q000451:nursing; D007902:Length of Stay / Q000706:statistics & numerical data; D010043:Outcome and Process Assessment, Health Care / Q000706:statistics & numerical data; D010347:Patient Care Planning / Q000706:statistics & numerical data; D011785:Quality Assurance, Health Care / Q000706:statistics & numerical data; D012107:Research Design