Variation in the process of pediatric asthma care

In May 1994, the continuous quality improvement team at Hermann Children's Hospital in Houston, TX, began to study the structure, process, and outcome of asthma care for pediatric patients. The team's immediate goals were to identify variation in the treatment of pediatric asthma and to determine the most cost-effective interventions. This article details the team's development of a clinical pathway to reduce variation in patient care; use of the pathway led to a reduction in length of stay and a corresponding reduction in costs.