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PubMed · 11721275

Stroke pathways.

N Venketasubramanian
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Abstract

Stroke pathways are task-orientated structured multidisciplinary care plans which detail essential steps and interventions during the period of care of a "typical" stroke patient. Pathway development and implementation are best achieved by an appointed champion leading a multidisciplinary team of health care workers and administrators, who will also be the end users of the pathway. Pathway development involves reviews of existing clinical practice guidelines and pathways, followed by documentation, interdigitation and prioritization of care requirements at different time points in the various spheres, taking into consideration local philosophies and practices. These spheres could include investigations, pharmacologic treatment, rehabilitative therapy, nursing measures, and patient education. This would result in evidence-based holistic quality care, wide support base, efficient service provision, reduced costs and length of stay, less practice variation, improved communication among disciplines, enhanced patient-staff relationship, ease of audit and research opportunities. Components of the pathway could include a patient summary sheet, multidisciplinary record of the various activities structured on a day-to-day basis, sign-off columns for staff responsible for performing those activity, variance sheet, and separate protocols for specific issues. Implementation requires training of users, pilot runs, feedback, regular revisions, monitoring of compliance, and analysis of variances. Widespread implementation of pathways may be hindered by lack of support, and concerns about increased time requirements and costs, stifling of innovation, restriction of application of clinical judgement, lack of applicability to all patients, misuse and legal issues. However, a well-designed pathway will ensure quality care in a cost-efficient manner, benefiting the patient, carer and the health care service.

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Critical PathwaysEvidence-Based MedicineGuideline AdherenceHumansMedical RecordsPatient Care TeamPractice Guidelines as TopicQuality Assurance, Health CareSingaporeStrokeStroke RehabilitationJournal Article

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BibTeXRIS

N Venketasubramanian. 2001. Stroke pathways.. https://pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/11721275/

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PubMed2002

Acute stroke services in New Zealand.

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PubMed2002

In-hospital care pathways for stroke.

BACKGROUND: Care within a stroke unit reduces death or dependency after stroke. However, studies have found significant variations in clinical practice, access to stroke unit care, organisation of patient care, and clinical outcome. Stroke care pathways have been introduced as a method to promote organised and efficient patient care that is based on best evidence and guidelines. OBJECTIVES: We aimed to assess the effects of care pathways, as compared to standard medical care, among patients with acute stroke who had been admitted to hospital. SEARCH STRATEGY: We searched the Cochrane Stroke Group Specialised Trials Register (last searched in May 2001), the Cochrane Controlled Trials Register (Issue 4, 2000), MEDLINE (1975-2000), EMBASE (1980-2000), CINAHL (1982-2000), the Index to Scientific and Technical Proceedings (ISTP, May 2001), and HealthSTAR (May 2001). We also handsearched the Journal of Managed Care (1997 to 1998), which was later renamed the Journal of Integrated Care (1998 to 2001). Reference lists of articles were searched. SELECTION CRITERIA: We considered randomised controlled trials and non-randomised studies (quasi-randomised trials, comparative studies, controlled and uncontrolled before and after studies, and interrupted time series) that compared care pathway care with standard medical care. DATA COLLECTION AND ANALYSIS: One reviewer selected studies for inclusion and the other independently checked the decisions. Two reviewers independently assessed the methodological quality of the studies. One reviewer extracted the data and the other checked the extracted data. Data from randomised and non-randomised studies were analysed separately. We found significant statistical heterogeneity in the analysis of two outcomes (computed tomography brain scanning and duration of stay). MAIN RESULTS: There were three randomised controlled trials (total of 340 patients) and seven non-randomised studies (total of 1673 patients) that compared care pathway care with standard medical care. We found no difference between care pathway and control groups in terms of death, dependency, or discharge destination. Evidence from mainly non-randomised studies suggests that patients managed using a care pathway may be: a) less likely to suffer a urinary tract infection (OR 0.38, CI 0.18 to 0.79), b) less likely to be readmitted (OR 0.11, CI 0.03 to 0.39), and c) more likely to have a computed tomography brain scan (OR 3.66, CI 1.45 to 9.27) or carotid duplex study (OR 2.45, CI 1.3 to 4.61). Evidence from randomised trials suggests that patient satisfaction and quality of life may be significantly lower in the care pathway group (P=0.02 and P<0.005 respectively). REVIEWER'S CONCLUSIONS: The use of care pathways to manage stroke patients in hospital may be associated with both positive and negative effects on the process of care and clinical outcomes. Since most of the results have been derived from non-randomised studies, they are likely to be influenced by potential biases and confounding factors. There is currently insufficient supporting evidence to justify routine implementation of care pathways for acute stroke management or stroke rehabilitation.

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