Management practice and thinking of different DRGs grouped patients in clinical pathway

Abstract

Objective To analysis the clinical pathway management efficiency under different DRG groups, for a basis for further optimizing clinical pathway management. Methods The retrospective analysis method was used to compare the average length of stay, sub-average costs, and drug proportions of patients with different DRGs in the same clinical pathway.Shapiro-Wilk was used to detect the normality of the samples, t test was used to analyze measurement data conformed to the normal distribution, non-parametric test was used to analyze the abnormal distribution data, and enumeration data was detected by using chi-square test. Results For patients with a clinical pathway of bronchial pneumonia, patients with severe complications and concomitant symptoms had no significant difference in mean hospitalization and sub-costs, regardless of whether they completed or entered the clinical pathway(P>0.05). For the other two DRG patients, the difference between the average length of stay, sub-average costs, and the proportion of medications for patients who completed the clinical pathway and withdrew from or did not complete the clinical pathway was significant(P<0.05). In the severe surgical group, the length of stay and average cost for patients who completed the clinical pathway were lower than those who exited or did not enter the clinical pathway(P<0.05). Conclusions Patients with different severity of DRGs should be cautious when they are enrolled in the clinical pathway. Key words: Clinical pathways; Diagnosis-related groups; Length of stay; Average cost; Disease management