Patient Pathways provide details on what to expect
Families learn what they must for safe discharge
At Children's National Medical Center in Washington, DC, families are given a patient pathway to accompany certain clinical pathways that are used by the medical team to coordinate care.
The patient pathway is a one-page sheet with information on what to expect during hospitalization on the front side of the page and details on care at home on the reverse side. Each statement is bulleted for easy reading.
The asthma pathway, for example, begins with a short definition of the disease and a list of the signs of an asthma attack. It continues with information on what will take place in the emergency department, including the following:
- Your child may get a steroid medicine, which is the best way we have for treating asthma attacks.
- The length of your child's stay in the emergency department depends on how well your child responds to treatment. Children who respond well to treatment and breathe easier may stay several hours to ensure they do well before being sent home.
- Children who still have trouble breathing after emergency room treatments will be moved to a hospital room for more treatments.
A section on the hospital stay is at the bottom of the front page. It has details on how the medical staff will continue to care for the child's asthma and alerts parents to the fact they will receive information on how to manage asthma at home. The information includes an Asthma Action Plan, which has details on how to use prescribed medicine to prevent and control symptoms.
The reverse side of the patient pathway has details on what must take place before a patient will be discharged. Details include:
- Your child will be ready to go home when your child is breathing easily and breathing treatments are at least four hours apart.
- When your child is ready to go home, the healthcare team will review your child's medicines, give prescriptions for the medicines and review how to give the asthma medicines at home.
- Your child will get a personal Asthma Action Plan describing the medicines your child should take every day to prevent asthma attacks in the future and medicines your child should take if he or she is having asthma symptoms.
- Make an appointment with your child's doctor within one week from the time you leave Children's; bring your child's Asthma Action Plan and discharge summary to the appointment.
Also included on the reverse side of the page are details on when to contact the child's doctor as well as when to call 911.
At Children's National Medical Center in Washington, DC, families are given a patient pathway to accompany certain clinical pathways that are used by the medical team to coordinate care.You have reached your article limit for the month. Subscribe now to access this article plus other member-only content.
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