title: Clinical Pathways: Driving High-Reliability and High-Value Care.
abstract: Health care in the United States is plagued by errors, inconsistencies, and inefficiencies. It is also extremely costly. Clinical pathways can drive high-value care and high reliability within a health care organization. Clinical pathways are much more than just guidelines or order sets as a part of a protocol of care, however; they must incorporate multiple elements that are critical to their successful implementation and sustainability. Additionally, clinical pathways can be utilized to accomplish strategic goals of the organization while fulfilling the quality, safety, and clinical aspects of the organization's mission.
authors.affiliation: Clinical Resource Management & Education Outreach, Children's Hospital of Pittsburgh of UPMC, Donald D Wolff Center for Quality, Safety, and Innovation, University of Pittsburgh School of Medicine, 4401 Penn Avenue, Pittsburgh, PA 15224, USA. Electronic address: Andrew.Buchert@chp.edu.
authors.forename: Andrew R
authors.initials: AR
authors.lastname: Buchert
authors.affiliation: Clinical Resource Management, Solutions for Patient Safety, Clinical Quality Analytics, Children's Hospital of Pittsburgh of UPMC, 4401 Penn Avenue, Pittsburgh, PA 15224, USA.
authors.forename: Gabriella A
authors.initials: GA
authors.lastname: Butler
mesh_terms: D019091:Critical Pathways; D003695:Delivery of Health Care / Q000592:standards*; D006801:Humans; D011787:Quality of Health Care; D015203:Reproducibility of Results; D014481:United States
keywords: Clinical pathways; Guidelines; High reliability; Outcomes measurement; Pathways; Triple aim