Progress in cardiovascular nursing
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Prog Cardiovasc Nurs · Jan 1997
Collaborative care: improving patient outcomes in cardiovascular surgery.
Collaborative care, a multidisciplinary process to standardize and streamline care for selected case types, has gained momentum as a care delivery system in health care settings. The major goals of these programs are to improve the quality and continuity of care, while decreasing length of stay and cost. This article will describe key components, issues and challenges of developing, implementing and evaluating a collaborative care program for cardiovascular patients. ⋯ In regard to clinical outcomes, no significant differences were found in mortality or complication rates, such as postoperative bleeding, dysrhythmias and infection rates, between the clinical path group and a comparable group of non-path patients. Both intensive care unit (ICU) and overall hospital length of stay were concomitantly reduced. Other examples of program evaluation are also described, such as variation and patient follow-up data, to highlight quality improvement initiatives that further improve quality of care and reduce length of stay for this patient population.