[Computer-assisted treatment pathway for schizophrenia. Development and initial experiences]

Standardization in psychiatry is a developmental process which, following on from psychopathology and nosology is now increasingly affecting the field of treatment. The development of guidelines for the treatment of psychiatric diseases has now become well accepted, although the impact on routine practice is still limited. Treatment pathways bring recommendations from guidelines into a clear and practice-oriented algorithm. The prerequisite for this is the inclusion of all aspects and elements of the treatment as well as all professions involved in the treatment and a valid electronic data processing foundation. Such an approach is presented here with the example of the development and implementation of a clinical pathway for inpatients with schizophrenia. Initial results revealed that patients who received multi-professional treatment within such a clinical pathway, improved better than patients of the control group, as measured by CGI, PANSS and PSP. This shows that introduction of a clinical pathway leads to an improvement of treatment quality. Standardization of psychiatric treatment processes could be highly relevant in respect to the new remuneration system for psychiatry in Germany.