The development of Partners for Health's integrated community pathway for postmyocardial infarction patients.
Partners for Health convened an interdisciplinary team to evaluate the quality of care received by cardiac patients. The team detailed the suboptimal postacute care of patients with ischemic heart disease. To solve the quality problems, a cross-sectoral team, using an approach that is in accordance with the American Heart Association's Scientific Statement on Pathways, systematically developed and implemented an integrated community pathway for myocardial infarction patients. The paper contributes to the literature on pathways by presenting the lessons learned from the authors' first-hand experience. The paper concludes with recommendations based on those lessons.
Young
Wendy
W
Department of Health Policy, Management and Evaluation and Home Care Evaluation and Research Centre, University of Toronto, Ontario. wendy.young@utoronto.ca
Rewa
George
G
Coyte
Peter C
PC
Jaglal
Susan B
SB
Goodman
Shaun
S
Bentley-Taylor
Michael
M
Fountas
Peter
P
Gupta
Anup
A
Levinson
Ari
A
O'Connor
Terri
T
D002170:Canada; D016507:Cardiology Service, Hospital / Q000458:organization & administration / Q000592:standards*; D003152:Community Health Nursing / Q000193:education / Q000592:standards; D003266:Continuity of Patient Care / Q000592:standards*; D019091:Critical Pathways / Q000458:organization & administration*; D019033:Delivery of Health Care, Integrated; D018575:Home Care Services, Hospital-Based / Q000458:organization & administration / Q000592:standards*; D006786:Hospitals, Urban; D006801:Humans; D008332:Management Quality Circles; D009203:Myocardial Infarction / Q000451:nursing / Q000534:rehabilitation*; D009864:Ontario; D019982:Organizational Case Studies; D011785:Quality Assurance, Health Care / Q000379:methods / Q000458:organization & administration*