[Process management and PDTA: some reflections.]

The debate over Diagnostic and Therapeutic Care Pathways (DTCP) existed for at least twenty years: it is therefore necessary to contextualize the thinking with respect to the historical context and in accordance to the disciplinary bases. In the last twenty years, health care companies, Region - health care and medicine relations have undergone a major transformation, so there is a need to resume the historical positions by updating them or referring to those contributions of the debate that best capture the most recent transformations. The reference to the disciplinary roots of the various contributions in the literature allows for a common denominator to avoid building proposals that risk being based on very different conceptual basis or referring to distant issues in the complex world of healthcare services.