Effects of clinical pathway on medicine fee drug proportion in adult community-acquired pneumonia

Abstract

Objective To investigate the effects of clinical pathway on medicine fee drug proportion in adult community-acquired pneumonia. Methods One hundred and thirty-one adults inpatients with community-acquired pneumonia were recruited in our department and then randomly classified into clinical pathway management group (70 cases, 65 cases finished) and non-clinical pathway management group (61 cases). The total hospital expenses, medicine fee, drug proportion, the length of stay, and clinical efficacy were compared between two groups. Results The length of stay, total hospital expenses, medicine fee and drug proportion were decreased in clinical pathway management group, compared with non-clinical pathway management group (P<0.05). Difference was found in clinical efficacy between two groups (P<0.05). Conclusions The clinical pathway contributes to the reduction of the length of stay, total hospital expenses and drug proportion. Key words: Clinical pathway; Community acquired pneumonia; Drug proportion