ABSTRACT
Behavioral health is a new area for clinical pathways. Learn the steps to develop one, the pitfalls and benefits, and how to support your continuous quality-improvement efforts.
Subject(s)
Critical Pathways/organization & administration , Mental Disorders/nursing , Psychiatric Nursing/organization & administration , Total Quality Management/organization & administration , Humans , North Carolina , Nurse Clinicians/organization & administration , Patient Care Planning/organization & administration , Patient Care Team/organization & administration , Patient-Centered Care/organization & administration , Practice Guidelines as TopicABSTRACT
A colostomy and ileostomy clinical pathway was developed at a southeastern teaching hospital in 1990 in response to excessive lengths of stay and costs at our hospital compared with national data for this patient group. A multidisciplinary clinical pathway team was formed and charged with the development, implementation, and ongoing monitoring of the clinical pathway tool and its effect on the outcomes of the population of patients with colostomies and ileostomies. Through this multidisciplinary collaboration, length of stay and cost have been reduced while quality care indicators have been maintained. This article presents the sample pathway we developed and describes the pathway development process, documentation, the variance analysis process, and the outcomes achieved with implementation. A urostomy/urinary diversion pathway that was developed after variance analysis review of the colostomy and ileostomy clinical pathway is also presented.
