The development of mental health care pathways: friend or foe?
Greater emphasis is being placed on mental health services to be more responsive to clinical variation. Care pathways can standardize clinician response to established diagnostic groups such as schizophrenia. This article discusses care pathways using the findings of a research study carried out in London to explore the development and implementation of a care pathway. Respondents encountered many difficulties such as the principles behind individualized care and generic roles and responsibilities in preformulating their work into a care pathway sequence. This article concludes with areas for further application and research.
Jones
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City University London.
D001291:Attitude of Health Personnel; D019091:Critical Pathways / Q000458:organization & administration*; D019317:Evidence-Based Medicine; D006801:Humans; D007587:Job Description; D008131:London; D010348:Patient Care Team / Q000458:organization & administration*; D016730:Program Development; D015397:Program Evaluation; D011568:Psychiatric Nursing / Q000458:organization & administration; D012559:Schizophrenia / Q000628:therapy*; D011795:Surveys and Questionnaires