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Clinical paths offer patient care management but require quality management principles for success. A new book, Beyond Clinical Paths, explores this critical link for healthcare quality improvement.
Area of Science:
- Healthcare Management
- Quality Improvement Science
Background:
- Clinical paths emerged as a patient care management tool addressing cost and quality issues in healthcare.
- Early adoption of clinical paths often overlooked fundamental quality management principles.
Purpose of the Study:
- To highlight the critical issues for successful quality improvement using clinical paths.
- To introduce a new approach to clinical quality management based on underlying principles.
Main Methods:
- The content focuses on the principles of quality management in the context of clinical path implementation.
- The excerpt sets the stage for a deeper discussion on enhancing clinical quality.
Main Results:
- Successful implementation of clinical paths necessitates a strong foundation in quality management principles.
- A gap exists in understanding and applying these principles in healthcare settings.
Conclusions:
- Beyond Clinical Paths emphasizes the integration of quality management principles for effective clinical path utilization.
- A revised approach is needed to optimize clinical paths for both cost and quality outcomes.
Abstract:
Early in the decade, health care discovered a powerful patient care management tool: the clinical path. Leaders in the field latched onto paths as the solution to cost and quality dilemmas, but they overlooked the importance of the underlying principles of quality management. Beyond Clinical Paths, a new book from American Hospital Publishing, focuses on the issues critical to successful quality improvement through clinical paths. The following excerpt by the book's editor, Patrice L. Spath, sets the stage for a new approach to clinical quality.