Critical pathways--the pivotal tool.

Abstract

Case management is a nursing model that hospital administrators have implemented in an effort to reduce costs and improve quality. The pivotal tool that case management utilizes to standardize treatment plans, trend deviations from the standard, and document care is the critical pathway. Proper development, implementation, and utilization of critical pathways provide health care professionals and administrators with quantitative data on correlations between effective resource utilization and patient outcomes.