Evaluation of a clinical pathway to improve colorectal cancer outcomes

The aims of this preintervention and postintervention study were to monitor and evaluate the clinical pathway (CP) for colorectal cancer (CRC) over a 5-year period and to compare 2 groups of patients (before and after the intervention) with regard to different variables of effectiveness. Group I comprised 68 patients who underwent planned surgery between January 2002 and January 2003. Group II comprised a sample of 202 patients who underwent surgery between January 2004 and December 2008. No significant differences were found in the majority of the parameters measured: postoperative stay, compliance with antibiotic prophylaxis, compliance with the staging study, mortality, rate of infection, and reoperations. The mean length of stay (±standard deviation) for patients without complications was reduced significantly (9.2 ± 3.6 in group I versus 7.7 ± 1.7 in group II, P = .031). The CP for CRC did not achieve most of the objectives for which it was designed.