The Effect Evaluation Of A Clinical Pathway For Ischemic Stroke Of Guangdong Provincial Hospital Of Traditional Chinese Medicine

BackgroundStroke, characterized by high morbidity, high mortality and high disability rate, is the main disease that threatens the people' s health of our country, and becomes a heavy burden that the society and the family have to bear. Clinical pathways which developed in America are a potentially beneficial management strategy for both improving healthcare and decreasing costs while also maintaining or improving quality of care. And Traditional Chinese Medicine which has a long, history and is experienced on curing stroke is an important component of the health care system in our country. To standardize the therapy procedure, improve healthcare quality and decrease hospitalization costs, Guangdong provincial hospital of Traditional Chinese Medicine developed a clinical pathway for ischemic stroke.PurposeThe purpose of this study is to evaluate the effect of the clinical pathway for ischemic stroke of Guangdong provincial Traditional Chinese Medicine, and to provide evidences for further improving the pathway.MethodsThe study performed retrospective cohort study of stroke patients which were hospitalized in the Guangdong provincial hospital of Traditional Chinese Medicine corresponding to the periods immediately before (from Deccember, 2003 to April, 2004; control group) and after (from May to November, 2004;...