title: Clinical pathways: improving patient education and influencing readmission rates.
abstract: Clinical pathways have long been used as a mechanism for implementing a managed care delivery system. They have been effective in highlighting lengths of stay, outcome variances, and systems problems. Clinical pathways play an important part in enhancing quality improvement activities, especially in accordance with the standards of the Joint Commission on Accreditation of Healthcare Organizations. This article addresses benefits of clinical pathways in general, and benefits at the authors' facility in particular, specifically, a clinical pathway's effectiveness in influencing readmissions of patients with atrial fibrillation.
authors.affiliation: Department of Veterans Affairs Medical Center, Baltimore, MD, USA.
authors.forename: A L
authors.initials: AL
authors.lastname: Ayestas
authors.forename: E
authors.initials: E
authors.lastname: Diaz
authors.forename: S
authors.initials: S
authors.lastname: Kirtland
mesh_terms: D001281:Atrial Fibrillation / Q000628:therapy; D001291:Attitude of Health Personnel; D015142:Baltimore; D019090:Case Management / Q000592:standards; D003266:Continuity of Patient Care / Q000592:standards; D019091:Critical Pathways / Q000458:organization & administration / Q000592:standards*; D003625:Data Collection; D004496:Education, Continuing; D005246:Feedback; D006787:Hospitals, Veterans / Q000592:standards / Q000706:statistics & numerical data; D006801:Humans; D007318:Inservice Training; D007591:Joint Commission on Accreditation of Healthcare Organizations; D010353:Patient Education as Topic / Q000592:standards*; D010359:Patient Readmission / Q000706:statistics & numerical data* / Q000639:trends; D016730:Program Development; D017749:Total Quality Management