Patient pathway

A patient pathway is an evidence-based tool that supports the planning and management of the care process of individual patients within a group of similar patients with complex, long-term conditions.

It details the phases of care, guiding the whole journey a patient takes by defining goals and milestones, and supports mutual decision-making by the patient and his/her multidisciplinary care team collaborating in a comprehensive network of care providers.

Criteria and targets

Tumour entities

  • A patient pathway is in use for all tumour entities
  • Shared patient pathways are actively used for the majority of tumour entities treated within the CCI (minimum 90%)

Patient pathway structure

  • Comprehensive coverage - from diagnosis to palliative care/long-term survivorship, including all referrals between services
  • Should address the tumour-specific multi-disciplinary team (MDT) and describe the roles of diagnostic, therapeutic and patient-centered care specialists
  • All institutions along the pathway should be highlighted, with a focus on their interfaces

Patient pathway requirements

  • Patient pathways include tumour-specific characteristics
  • Patient pathways support the enrolment of patients in studies and encourage the conduct of studies
  • Patient pathways include the patient perspective
  • Patient pathways include minimum technical, personnel and structural resources

Development, application and technical implementation

  • There is a process for developing and improving the patient pathway within the CCI
  • Patient versions of the patient pathways are available for patients within the CCI
  • Data collection points should be indicated in the patient pathways
  • Patient pathways are embedded in the technical infrastructure of the CCI

Patient pathway evaluation

  • A regular evaluation of the patient pathways takes place
  • The results of the evaluation are used for the updating process of the patient pathways within the CCI

Resources