Clinical Pathways

What is a Clinical Pathway?

A clinical pathway is a structured, evidence-based, multidisciplinary plan that details steps in the care of patients with a specific condition. The goal of a clinical pathway is to standardize best practice, improve patient outcomes and reduce cost. This is accomplished by decreasing unnecessary variation while promoting safe, effective, and consistent patient care.

Our Program

The Clinical Pathways Program at Connecticut Children’s aims to improve the quality of care our patients receive, across both ambulatory and acute care settings. We have implemented a standardized process for clinical pathway development and maintenance to ensure meaningful improvements to patient care as well as systematic continual improvement.

Development of a clinical pathway includes a multidisciplinary team, which may include doctors, advanced practitioners, nurses, pharmacists, other specialists, and even patients/families. Each clinical pathway has a flow algorithm, an educational module for end-user education, associated order set(s) in the electronic medical record, and quality metrics that are evaluated regularly to measure the pathway’s effectiveness. Additionally, clinical pathways are reviewed annually and updated to ensure alignment with the most up to date evidence.

Clinical Pathways

Animal Bite Skin and Soft Tissue Infection

Appendicitis

Antenatal Risk of Coarctation of the Aorta (ARCH)

Asthma

Blunt Liver and Spleen Injury

Brief Resolved Unexplained Event (BRUE)

Brachial Plexus Palsy Management

Bronchiolitis

Burn

Clostridium difficile (C. difficile) Infection

Community-Acquired Pneumonia

COVID-19

Croup

Delirium

Diabetic Ketoacidosis

Eating Disorder

Fever & Sepsis Evaluation in the Neonate (Ages 0-28 Days)

Fever & Sepsis Evaluation in the Infant (Ages 29-60 Days)

Gastroenteritis and Dehydration

Hemangioma Management

High-Flow Nasal Cannula Outside of the Pediatric Intensive Care Unit (PICU)

HIV Post-Exposure Prophylaxis

Hyperbilirubinemia in the Neonate

Kawasaki Disease

Ketogenic Diet & Modified Ketogenic Diet

Lead Toxicity

Minimally Invasive Craniosynostosis

Newborn Management of Prenatally Diagnosed Tetralogy of Fallot and Risk of Ductal Dependency

Oncology Patient with Fever

Ovarian Torsion

Peripheral Venous Access

Preseptal and Orbital Cellulitis

Renal Trauma

Rhabdomyolysis

Sepsis Progression Prevention and Septic Shock

Skin & Soft Tissue Infection

Somatic Symptom and Related Disorders

Suspected Neurosurgical Shunt Infection

Suspected Neurosurgical Shunt Malfunction

Suspected Physical Abuse

Tethered Cord: Post-Operative Care

Tonsillectomy and Adenoidectomy: Perioperative Care

Urinary Tract Infection

 

Clinical Pathways Team

Ilana Waynik, MD
Co-Director, Clinical Pathways Program

Anand Sekaran, MD
Co-Director, Clinical Pathways Program

Mary Saccoccio, BSN, RN
Director of Metrics and Measurement

Grace Hong, APRN
Lead Pathway Development Specialist

Molly Band, PA-C
Pathway Development Specialist

Jill Herring, APRN
Order Set Specialist

Abby Theriaque, APRN
Educational Module Specialist

Eric Hoppa, MD
Emergency Department Lead

Shirley Bonazelli, BSN, RN
Clinical Data Coordinator

Tina Sacco, BS, RN
Clinical Data Coordinator

Tracy Daley, MSN, RN
Clinical Data Coordinator

Jenny Rickles, MPH
Quality Metrics Specialist

Stephanie Komkov, PhD
Senior Systems Analyst

 

Disclaimer

The clinical pathways in the above links have been developed specifically for use at Connecticut Children’s and are made available publicly for informational and/or educational purposes only. The clinical pathways are not intended to be, nor are they, a substitute for individualized professional medical judgment, advice, diagnosis, or treatment. Although Connecticut Children’s makes all efforts to ensure the accuracy of the posted content, Connecticut Children’s makes no warranty of any kind as to the accuracy or completeness of the information or its fitness for use at any particular facility or in any individual case.