A treatment protocol based on a consensus of clinicians that includes only those few vital components or items proved to affect patient outcomes, either by the omission or commission of the treatment or the timing of the intervention.
An agreed and explicit route an individual takes through health and social care services. Agreements between the various providers involved will typically cover the type of care and treatment, which professional will be involved and their level of skills, and where treatment or care will take place. See also “care plan”; “care programme”.... care pathway
A multidisciplinary set of daily prescriptions and outcome targets for managing the overall care of a specific type of patient, e.g. from pre-admission to post-discharge for patients receiving inpatient care. Clinical pathways are often intended to maintain or improve quality of care and decrease costs for patients in particular diagnosis-related groups.... clinical pathway
an extra electrical conduction pathway between the atria and ventricles, anatomically separate from the *atrioventricular node, that predisposes to *re-entry tachycardia. The pathway conducts faster than the atrioventricular node, giving rise to pre-excitation recognized by a characteristic delta wave at the beginning of the QRS complex on the electrocardiogram in normal rhythm. The presence of this pathway, with the occurrence of intermittent tachycardias, is known as the *Wolff-Parkinson-White syndrome.... accessory pathway
the route that a patient takes through the health-care system, from first admission to a hospital or treatment centre to final discharge. This may consist of one or more *spells in particular hospitals and one or more *finished consultant episodes. For example, a patient admitted to a district general hospital, transferred to a tertiary hospital for a specialist procedure, and then transferred back to the district general hospital for recovery would experience one continuous patient pathway but three spells.... continuous patient pathway
1. an event or episode that deviates from the expected or desired course and could have potentially negative effects for patient care or safety. Related terms include ‘significant adverse event’. Such episodes may inform *reflective practice and in the NHS should be reported. 2. in research, an incident that defines an importantly altered outcome for one group of participants compared to others.... critical incident
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