The Journal of asthma : official journal of the Association for the Care of Asthma
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Observational Study
Best practices in implementing inpatient pediatric asthma pathways: a qualitative study.
Objective: Clinical pathways (operational versions of practice guidelines) can improve guideline adherence and quality of care for children hospitalized with asthma. However, there is limited guidance on how to implement pathways successfully. Our objective was to identify potential best practices in pathway implementation. ⋯ We identified several practices that addressed barriers and promoted successful pathway implementation: (1) utilizing quality improvement (QI) methodology and a data-driven approach helped overcome inertia of current practice; (2) getting teams to commit to shared goals around asthma care helped overcome disagreements in the implementation process; (3) integrating pathways into the electronic medical record decreased some burdens of implementation; (4) leveraging multidisciplinary teams by developing protocols for nurses and/or respiratory therapists to titrate medications reduced variability in provider practice; and (5) engaging hospital leaders with pathway implementation teams helped secure crucial resources. Conclusions: We identified several potential best practices to support pathway implementation. Hospitals implementing pathways should consider applying these strategies to better ensure success in improving quality of asthma care for children.