Patient, Clinician, and Healthcare Perspectives in Evaluating Care Pathways for Stable Chest Pain

Area of Science:

• Cardiology
• Healthcare Management
• Clinical Informatics

Background:

• Chest pain is a frequent patient complaint with a broad differential diagnosis.
• Challenges in chest pain management include diagnostic complexity and potential for life-threatening conditions like acute myocardial infarction.
• Patient-centered care necessitates efficient assessment, investigation, diagnosis, and treatment pathways.

Purpose of the Study:

• To describe the concept and importance of clinical pathways in healthcare.
• To explore various perspectives on investigating chest pain and identify barriers in clinical sequencing.
• To critically evaluate the current stable chest pain pathway from patient, clinician, and healthcare system viewpoints.

Main Methods:

• Review of the concept and application of clinical pathways.
• Analysis of different approaches to chest pain investigation.
• Evaluation of the stable chest pain pathway considering multiple stakeholder perspectives.

Main Results:

• Clinical pathways are crucial for standardized, efficient, and safe patient management.
• Barriers exist in understanding the clinical sequence for chest pain diagnosis.
• A multi-perspective evaluation highlights areas for improvement in the stable chest pain pathway.

Conclusions:

• Implementing and refining clinical pathways can enhance the management of chest pain.
• Addressing barriers and integrating patient, clinician, and system perspectives is key to optimizing care.
• Further consideration of these elements can lead to improved patient outcomes and healthcare efficiency.