Care Paths

renerian, BSN, RN · Aug 17, 2005

Patti, I am sorry no one replied. I missed this post. I have found for the younger population, insurance etc, caretracks work fairly well. For the elderly I think they can be guides to move through information and standards of care programs but they cannot keep up with the same timelines for learning as younger patients. I have seen companies tell their nurses that they have to move through a caretrack in two weeks and the patient gets discharged to make sure the company makes the most profit but for me, that only makes nurses and patients upset as in reality it is NOT tailored to the patients learning needs and abilities.

Does that make sense?

renerian

homesrus · Aug 17, 2005

To those of you using care paths vs. care plans...I am looking for any positive input in using these care paths compared to care plans. Especially in the chronic and Long Term Care clients.

We went back to careplans after carepaths. The paths were bulky to get to the nurses for use and we had trouble keeping on schedule with older population also. However, i cannot say that the care plans that we use are effective either. We do them because they are necessary but have not come upon a way to make them really useful for the nurse or patient.