Numerous studies have demonstrated that a well-designed clinical pathway (CP) is an effective means of sustaining quality while controlling the length of stay (LOS) in the management of certain disease entities. While CP for ENT surgery is also an important tool for improving case manage-ment and outcome assessment, their effectiveness has not yet been well defined in the ENT field in Japan. The objective of this study was to investigate the effect and variance of the CP on the out-comes of patients undergoing endoscopic surgery (ESS). The records of 25 patients who were man-aged by a CP for ESS under general anesthesia from February 2004 to July 2004 were examined. The variance outcome measures including premeditation, the start of postoperative nutrition, LOS, and the length of nasal packing were analyzed by a couse and effect diagram from the CP. The LOS and length of nasal packing were compared based on some factors using a non-parametric analysis (Mann-Whitney U test). Nasal packing was removed on postoperative day (POD) 4, and the LOS was es-tablished as 8 days. The LOS varied from 4 to 14 days. Seven patients required an extended hospital stay (over 8 days, negative variance). Nice patients were discharged by day 7 (by POD 5, positive variance). The reasons for the delay in discharge (negative variance) were due to health insurance related problems in 3 patients, postoperative disease (otitis) in one patient, medical reasons related to the surgical method in one patient, and waiting for surgery in one patient. As for medical risk, there was no difference in the LOS. The nasal packing was removed on POD 4 in six patients. The packing was removed by POD 3 in 19 patients (positive variance). There was no negative variance in this outcome measure. ESS was performed by two doctors. The patients treated by Dr. A had a significantly shorter length of nasal packing than that by Dr. B.(mean: 1.9+/-0.3+/-0.22 days; p<0.02), but no significant difference was seen in the LOS. There were also no differences in the inci-dence of complications of the functional outcomes. The LOS of postoperative maxillary cyst (POMC) was significantly shorter than that of sinusitis (p<0.01, mean 5.2+/-0.37 days for POMC vs. mean 8.4+/-0.35 days for sinusitis). As a result, the implementation and leedback of a clinical pathway are effective methods to control LOS. In addition, the variance analysis information can in-dicate how we should change our current CP to improve the care of ESS patients, thereby enhahcing and refining the surgical procedures in clinical practice.
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