Improving care pathways through evidence-based modeling strategies: a scoping review.

Area of Science:

• Healthcare Systems Research
• Health Informatics
• Operations Research

Background:

• Noncommunicable and communicable diseases pose significant public health challenges, straining healthcare systems.
• Care pathways (CPs) offer a framework to enhance care coordination and delivery, but their complexity complicates implementation.
• Modeling methodologies provide a valuable approach to address the complexities of CP implementation.

Purpose of the Study:

• To systematically describe and analyze the methodologies used for modeling care pathways (CPs).
• To identify common modeling goals, methods, functions, strengths, and limitations in CP research.
• To provide a framework for researchers and healthcare professionals to improve CP design and implementation.

Main Methods:

• A scoping review following PRISMA-ScR guidelines.
• Searches conducted in PubMed, Web of Science, and Embase for human studies published between January 1, 2019, and April 3, 2024.
• Data extraction and categorization based on modeling goals, methods, functions, strengths, and limitations of 41 included articles.

Main Results:

• The primary goals of CP modeling were quality of care (46.3%), continuous improvement (31.7%), and process optimization (22.0%).
• Modeling methods included qualitative (41.5%), quantitative (34.1%), and mixed (24.4%) approaches, with qualitative methods prevalent in quality of care studies.
• Key challenges identified were data availability and acceptance of implementation, with limited methodological overlap across studies.

Conclusions:

• This review systematically categorizes CP modeling methodologies, providing valuable insights for researchers and practitioners.
• The findings offer a framework to enhance the design and implementation of care pathways.
• Improved CP modeling can lead to better patient outcomes and more efficient healthcare systems.