A clinical path for adult diabetes

The use of clinical paths for patient care management was explored by this development team as a mechanism to provide consistent, high-quality care to hospitalized patients in high-volume, high-risk diagnostic categories. Reviewing the historical aspects and importance of clinical paths helped expand the team's perspective to incorporate pre- and posthospitalization phases of patient care into the clinical path being developed. A multidisciplinary team of physicians, nurses, health educators, and dietitians from both inpatient and outpatient departments of Kaiser-Santa Teresa Medical Center in San Jose, California, devised and implemented an Adult Diabetes Mellitus care path. Staff education preceded the implementation of the care paths. Measurements of quality indicators showed improvements in patient satisfaction, patient education, patient knowledge, and nutrition assessments.