S Graeber1, S Richter, J Folz, P-T Pham, P Jacob, M K Schilling. 1. Institute of Medical Biometry, Epidemiology and Medical Informatics, Saarland University, Building 86, Saarland University Hospital, 66421 Homburg/Saar, Germany. graeber@med-imbei.uni-saarland.de
Abstract
OBJECTIVES: To emphasize the importance of the view of business process management for development and implementation of clinical pathways, and to evaluate their effectiveness in reducing cost and effort as well as enhancing patient satisfaction. METHODS: We describe the development and implementation of pathways with methods of process management and the design and realization of an evaluation study in the setting of a surgical department. For this study 67 patients treated without clinical pathways were compared with 62 patients treated using pathways. RESULTS: The approach explicitly enhances the development and implementation of clinical pathways. The introduction of pathways reduces length of hospital stay, number of laboratory tests, number of consultations, and number of imaging procedures. Patient satisfaction is improved. CONCLUSIONS: Depending on design and setting, the introduction of clinical pathways may be a very promising method to improve the inpatient service at a hospital and so to react to the challenges of increasing competition in medical care.
OBJECTIVES: To emphasize the importance of the view of business process management for development and implementation of clinical pathways, and to evaluate their effectiveness in reducing cost and effort as well as enhancing patient satisfaction. METHODS: We describe the development and implementation of pathways with methods of process management and the design and realization of an evaluation study in the setting of a surgical department. For this study 67 patients treated without clinical pathways were compared with 62 patients treated using pathways. RESULTS: The approach explicitly enhances the development and implementation of clinical pathways. The introduction of pathways reduces length of hospital stay, number of laboratory tests, number of consultations, and number of imaging procedures. Patient satisfaction is improved. CONCLUSIONS: Depending on design and setting, the introduction of clinical pathways may be a very promising method to improve the inpatient service at a hospital and so to react to the challenges of increasing competition in medical care.
Authors: Christoph Justinger; Jochen Schuld; Jens Sperling; Otto Kollmar; Sven Richter; Martin Karl Schilling Journal: Langenbecks Arch Surg Date: 2011-04-01 Impact factor: 3.445
Authors: Andreas Schmid Frymerman; Jochen Schuld; Patrick Ziehen; Otto Kollmar; Christoph Justinger; Marco Merai; Sven Richter; Martin Karl Schilling; Mohammed Reza Moussavian Journal: J Gastrointest Surg Date: 2010-01-22 Impact factor: 3.452