Application of clinical pathway in patients with chronic obstructive pulmonary disease

Abstract

Objective To evaluate the feasibility of application of the clinical pathway (CP) in patients with chronic obstructive pulmonary disease.Methods Sixty-one cases of chronic obstructive pulmonary disease were chosen.All the patients were randomly divided into two groups:35 cases in clinical path administration group(test group) and 26 cases in traditional medicine group (control group).Hospitalization expenses,hospitalization time,the psychological changes of the patient,patients' satisfaction degree were recorded.The psychological changes of the patients were detected by self-rating anxiety scale(SAS) and self-rating depression scale (SDS).Results The total hospitalization expenses,the western medicine expenses,and the hospitalization time was significantly shorter in test group than that in control group.SAS and SDS scales decreased significantly in test group,compared to those in contrast group.Patients were more satisfied with their treatments in the test group.Conclusions Application of clinical pathway in the chronic obstructive pulmonary disease patients can obviously reduce expenses,hospitalization time,and psychological problems.And it can increase the satisfaction degree of patients.It is a new and effective management mode. Key words: Chronic obstructive pulmonary disease; Clinical pathways