Critical pathways for acute myocardial infarction.

Critical pathways are standardized protocols for optimizing and streamlining patient care. They are important in the management of patients with acute myocardial infarction, many of whom do not receive evidence-based therapies. Several studies have demonstrated that the development and implementation of critical pathways that follow published guidelines and are tailored to the needs and resources of each institution result in increased use of evidence-based therapies, such as aspirin and beta-blockers, and is associated with decreased mortality. Use of these protocols has also been shown to reduce unnecessary therapy and under- or overutilization of certain procedures, thereby resulting in more cost-effective treatment.