Evaluación del impacto asistencial de una vía clínica de trasplante renal

Abstract

Aim To reassess the impact of a clinical pathway for kidney transplantation in a university hospital after a 4-year period. Material and method We performed an experimental “before and after” study with a retrospective control group. The experimental group was composed of patients who underwent kidney transplantation after the starting date of implementation of the clinical pathway (1999) at the Hospital La Paz (Madrid, Spain). The control group included a selection of patients who underwent the same procedure before 1999. Results There were 32 patients in the control group and 121 in the experimental group. The length of stay before discharge was reduced from 20 days in the control group to 14 days in the experimental group. The surgical site infection rate decreased from 12.5% to 1.7%. No differences were found in the development of other surgical complications or undesired events after discharge. The reduction observed in antibiotic use was non-significant, whilst a significant reduction was found in the use of gastric protectors. Moreover, the time elapsed from kidney transplantation to withdrawal of the vesical and central catheters diminished in both groups (from 12 to 8 days). Conclusions The clinical pathway has proved to be an effective and efficient tool to reduce the length of hospital stay and the development of undesired events, thus improving health care quality.