Application of a prototype process for developing a tube gastrostomy clinical pathway

The development and implementation of clinical pathways as a managed care tool have been widely embraced as principal components of the healthcare industry's drive to reform costly, inconsistent, and often uncontrolled delivery of services. Clinical pathways are not new to healthcare; however, the lack of a defined and systematic process for pathway development has hindered organizational efforts to develop and implement clinical pathways. A multidisciplinary clinical pathway process prototype was identified as a means for effectively defining and linking care and outcomes for patients requiring tube gastrostomy placement at a large military medical facility. This article presents the prototype process for developing a clinical pathway with a practical application to illustrate the process and provides a process template for potential use by others interested in developing multidisciplinary clinical pathways.