Seminar P3 – Clinical pathways concept – a key to seamless care

Linked to EAHP Statements:
Section 5: patient safety and quality assurance
Section 1: introductory statements and governance

ACPE UAN: 0475-0000-16-008-L04-P. A knowledge based activity.

Abstract

It is generally accepted that interfaces between organisations and professional groups are the points at which communication is most likely to break down. This occurs because of failure to understand different organisational cultures or systems.

Closer co-operation between members of primary health care teams, and between hospital and community pharmacies would benefit patients. The new paradigm of clinical pathways is an attractive way to meet those expectations.

Clinical pathways are standardised, evidence-based multidisciplinary management plans, which identify an appropriate sequence of clinical interventions, timeframes, milestones and expected outcomes for a homogenous patient group.

Clinical pathways and the inclusion of protocols are one of the most powerful and efficient means to coordinate care. Coordination is enhanced not only by having these tools in place and ensuring they are followed, but also through the process of creating them. An effective, well-facilitated, multidisciplinary development process brings together clinicians, pharmacists, nurses, dietician, physiotherapists who may seldom communicate. Thus making them all more aware of their interdependencies and disconnections and allowing them to examine evidence from many angles as the basis for mapping out pathways and/or protocols.

This seminar will illustrate through concrete projects the power of clinical pathways to optimise medication use process and seamless care.

Teaching goals:

• To present clinical pathways for patient care coordination;
• To demonstrate the advantages of a clinical pathway tool for seamless care;
• To illustrate the attractiveness of clinical pathways for the consistency of care in the context of medication use process.