GENERAL SURGICAL CLINICAL PATHWAYS - AN INTRODUCTION

With increasing pressures to reduce the cost of health care, protocols and practice guidelines are being developed to streamline the practic e of medicine. Many of these guidelines have been developed by health care workers who are not involved in the daily care of patients and wh o do not have clinical expertise in the specific diseases. The Southea stern Surgical Congress appointed a committee to develop clinical path ways for common surgical diseases. These clinical pathways have been d eveloped by practicing surgeons with expertise in common surgical dise ases and reviewed for their applicability by other surgeons with clini cal expertise. The types of guidelines are reviewed and the need for g uidelines are discussed. This paper presents the purpose, development, essential elements, and the dissemination and implementation of clini cal pathways for common surgical diseases. It is critical that surgeon s and surgical organizations participate in developing clinical guidel ines and clinical pathways.