Critical pathway for community-acquired pneumonia
Garin, N.; Harbarth, S.; Nendaz, M.; Rochat, T.; Rutschmann, O.
Revue Medicale Suisse 7(292): 917-921
2011
ISSN/ISBN: 1660-9379 PMID: 21674896 Document Number: 655534
A clinical pathway is a methodological tool for standardizing medical practice, improving the quality and efficiency of care delivery, and enhancing the diffusion of evidence-based medicine. Despite the fact that a majority of trials have shown that the use of clinical pathways improves certain specific outcomes such as length of stay or complications, the overall impact of these pathways in the clinical setting has yet to be documented. In the setting of community-acquired pneumonia, a few observational and one large randomized trial have shown positive effects on various outcomes. We describe in this article the clinical pathway for community-acquired pneumonia developed at our institution.