Evaluation of the critical pathway (CP) committee activity, especially of the conference on CP, in Morioka Municipal Hospital

Abstract

The conference on critical pathway (CP) is defined as the opportunity of presentation and discussion with respect to CP and medical care quality by all professions inside and outside of the hospital. We investigated the effectiveness of the pathway committee activity with a focus on in-hospital conference on CP with questionnaire surveys in this hospital. We introduced CP in 2002. The pathway committee started in April 2006. The in-hospital conference on CP was held 70 times from June 2008 to December 2016 to widely encourage CP. We took a questionnaire survey after each conference. Furthermore, consciousness investigations for CP to all staff in this hospital were carried out two times in 2008 and 2016. As compared the 1st conference with the 70th conference, the number of approved CP and CP application rate have increased from 55 to 271 and from 26.2% to 55.5%, respectively. Questionnaire also unveiled that the clinical departments with low number and application rate of CP and which had less interests in CP existed. Satisfaction and comprehension of the conference doubled in 8 years in the attendees survey. The positive answers to advantage of the CP rose in the surveys in all staff in this hospital. But, the less effort in self-learning slightly increased, to our regret. The comprehension to CP and CP numbers and application rate increased by conference. CP seems to have widely penetrated in all staff. The pathway committee activity is essential for promotion and spread of CP. The education by conference is effective. Conventional conference has limitations toward decrease of staff motivation, toward self-study, and departments which had less interests in CP. New measures to improve this outcome must be considered.