Joint replacement: Using Clinical Pathways works

Clinical Pathways have been operations since the 1980s, but their nature and their usefulness is still much to discuss issues, including procedures like hip and knee are a significant cost to hospitals. Now the authors of the publication in Open Access journal BMC Medicine found that clinical pathways can contribute effectively to improving the quality of care for patients in the community exchange.

A team of researchers from the University of Eastern Piedmont, the Catholic University of Louvain, University Politecnica delle Marche and St. Rita Hospital Trust searched four databases (MEDLINE, CINAHL, EMBASE and the Cochrane Central Register of Controlled trials) with Medical Subject Headings. The authors compared the studies that, contrary Clinical Pathways caution in the standard of health care in the analysis, at least one of the four outcomes for postoperative complications, discharge to home, length of hospital stay (LOS) and direct costs.

The meta-analysis, 6316 patients showed that patients in the clinical group had significantly paths lowest post-operative complications and significantly shorter hospitalization, contributed to lower hospital costs. The authors believe that these results are the result of better organized care. Reasonable care and prolonged hospitalization increases the risk of complications, clinical pathways has been shown to prevent inadequate care and therefore the cost to the hospital.

The new data provides policy makers of the evidence, they must assess the location of the clinic in Pathways JR. According to the authors, "the need for the articulation of the hip and knee replacement land, the use of clinical pathways could contribute to improving the quality of care, and cost-effectiveness."

For more information: Impact of Clinical Pathways in common replacement: a meta-analysis, Barbieri A, K Vanhaecht, Van Herck P, W Sermeus, Faggiano F, S, Panella M Marchisio, BMC Medicine (in press) http:// www.biomedcentral.com / bmcmed