Quality of care in relation to a critical pathway from the staff's perspective

Specific groups with complex nursing requirements, such as patients suffering from stroke, are in greatest need of a critical pathway.

To study how the critical pathway is reflected in caring work from the staff's perspective.

Personnel (n = 16): physicians, care developers, speech therapists, physiotherapists, occupational therapists, nurses, assistant nurses. Content analysis has been used. Two main categories were formed: function of the critical pathway and effects of the critical pathway.

The nurse in the stroke ward is seen as the "spider in the web". There is a need for more collaboration, both in and between hospitals and primary health care. Many of the staff members feel that they are working in a learning organization. Others say that they have low job satisfaction caused by low manning and, consequently, less time to spend with the patients.

The critical care chain has not been fully developed in accordance with the care model. It emerges that patients spend a lot of time waiting while the staff have too little time to spend with patients.