Can quantification of congestive heart failure care convince medical doctors to use a care pathway? A process analysis

The Dutch national health-care policy has two opposing objectives: firstly care has to be cost-effective and secondly the quality of care has to improve. To meet these objectives in the clinical care for congestive heart failure (CHF), the Haga Hospital Heart Centre decided to investigate whether care according to a care pathway would be the solution. The objective of this study was to gain the support of the medical doctors (MDs) for implementation of a CHF care pathway. This was accomplished by providing insight through a process analysis of care as registered in the medical records. The survey was a retrospective process description of the design of the data collection protocol and research process evaluating the current care with international guidelines. The results of the research and the process of data collection facilitated a thorough evaluation of the delivered care. This resulted in an invaluable insight by the MDs into the results and registration of the medical care to CHF patients. In order to reveal the internal urgency of the design and implementation of a care pathway quantification of the care parameters is essential to gain insight into the care processes. With this insight the MDs are more likely to support a care pathway.