SynthesisBMC medicine2016
What is a clinical pathway? Refinement of an operational definition to identify clinical pathway studies for a Cochrane systematic review.
Synthesis in BMC medicine, 2016. The graph could read no effect estimate from its abstract, so it casts no vote on the map. It is linked to trial NCT04490798 (A Retrospective Longitudinal Cohort Study to Determine the Effectiveness of Integrated a Clinical Pathway Approach for Chronic Pain Treatment With Acupuncture in a Pain Clinic), which is not on this map. Cited by 107 papers, 10 of them syntheses that pooled it.
What it found
Each row is one number read from the abstract, on the scale the paper reported it, with its interval. Left of the dashed line favours the treatment, right favours the comparator. Under each row is the sentence it came from. New to these charts? A ten-minute tutorial.
The abstract states no effect estimate the extractor could read, or names no intervention and outcome on the map, so this paper lights no cell and moves no belief. It is still indexed, cited and linked below.
The trial behind it
Trials whose registry record cites this paper, or whose number appears in the abstract. A trial that started after this paper was published is citing it as background, not reporting it.
A Retrospective Longitudinal Cohort Study to Determine the Effectiveness of Integrated a Clinical Pathway Approach for Chronic Pain Treatment With Acupuncture in a Pain Clinic
Who cites it
107 citing papers in PubMed, 10 syntheses or guidelines pooled it.
- Optimizing Care Trajectories with Artificial Intelligence: A Systematic Review and Meta-Analysis.Asian Pacific journal of cancer prevention : APJCP · 2026Pooled it
- Barriers to the Implementation of Acute Coronary Syndrome Guidelines in Healthcare: A Systematic Review.Reviews in cardiovascular medicine · 2026Pooled it
- Clinical pathways for secondary care and the effects on professional practice, patient outcomes, length of stay and hospital costs.The Cochrane database of systematic reviews · 2025Pooled it
- Do we understand each other when we develop and implement hip fracture models of care? A systematic review with narrative synthesis.BMJ open quality · 2023Pooled it
- Building Bricks of Integrated Care Pathway for Autism Spectrum Disorder: A Systematic Review.International journal of molecular sciences · 2023Pooled it
- Restructuring Skin Cancer Care in Ontario: A Provincial Plan.Current oncology (Toronto, Ont.) · 2021Pooled it
- Clinical pathways and patient-related outcomes in hospital-based settings: a systematic review and meta-analysis of randomized controlled trials.Acta bio-medica : Atenei Parmensis · 2021Pooled it
- Oral nutrition interventions in patients undergoing gastrointestinal surgery for cancer: A systematic literature review.Supportive care in cancer : official journal of the Multinational Association of Supportive Care in Cancer · 2020Pooled it
- Barriers to and facilitators of the implementation of multi-disciplinary care pathways in primary care: a systematic review.BMC family practice · 2020Pooled it
- Variation in the initial assessment and investigation for ovarian cancer in symptomatic women: a systematic review of international guidelines.BMC cancer · 2019Pooled it
- Improving transitions in care for children and youth with mental health concerns: implementation and evaluation of an emergency department mental health clinical pathway.BMC health services research · 2025Trial
- Improving mobility and participation of older people with vertigo, dizziness and balance disorders in primary care using a care pathway: feasibility study and process evaluation.BMC family practice · 2021Trial
- Urinary tract infections in children.Nature reviews. Urology · 2026Review
- Designing Reliable Care Through Clinical Pathways: A Human Factors Framework.Healthcare (Basel, Switzerland) · 2026Article
- Seventh Åland Island Meeting on von Willebrand Disease.Haemophilia : the official journal of the World Federation of Hemophilia · 2026Article
- A cost comparison between patients undergoing robotic colorectal surgery with and without a clinical pathway.Cost effectiveness and resource allocation : C/E · 2026Article
- Spiritual Supports for Formerly Unhoused US Veterans: A Quality Improvement Evaluation.Journal of religion and health · 2026Article
- Clinical Outcomes of Patients Within the Rheumatoid Arthritis Care Pathway Cohort at a Tertiary Care Integrated Delivery Network: A Comparison to Usual Care.Arthritis care & research · 2026Article
- Prevalence and interconnectedness of delirium, dementia, and frailty pathways in clinical settings: a survey of geriatricians across Europe.European geriatric medicine · 2026Article
- The application of process mining for clinical pathways: a systematic literature review protocol.Systematic reviews · 2026Article
47 more citing papers are in PubMed but not listed here.
Corrections and comments
PubMed lists nothing against this paper. Absence here is not a guarantee, only a check that was made.
Authors and funding
9 authors.
Funding
No grant is acknowledged in the PubMed record.
Abstract
Clinical pathways (CPWs) are a common component in the quest to improve the quality of health. CPWs are used to reduce variation, improve quality of care, and maximize the outcomes for specific groups of patients. An ongoing challenge is the operationalization of a definition of CPW in healthcare. This may be attributable to both the differences in definition and a lack of conceptualization in the field of clinical pathways. This correspondence article describes a process of refinement of an operational definition for CPW research and proposes an operational definition for the future syntheses of CPWs literature. Following the approach proposed by Kinsman et al. (BMC Medicine 8(1):31, 2010) and Wieland et al. (Alternative Therapies in Health and Medicine 17(2):50, 2011), we used a four-stage process to generate a five criteria checklist for the definition of CPWs. We refined the operational definition, through consensus, merging two of the checklist's criteria, leading to a more inclusive criterion for accommodating CPW studies conducted in various healthcare settings. The following four criteria for CPW operational definition, derived from the refinement process described above, are (1) the intervention was a structured multidisciplinary plan of care; (2) the intervention was used to translate guidelines or evidence into local structures; (3) the intervention detailed the steps in a course of treatment or care in a plan, pathway, algorithm, guideline, protocol or other 'inventory of actions' (i.e. the intervention had time-frames or criteria-based progression); and (4) the intervention aimed to standardize care for a specific population. An intervention meeting all four criteria was considered to be a CPW. The development of operational definitions for complex interventions is a useful approach to appraise and synthesize evidence for policy development and quality improvement.
Indexed as
Identifiers
What OpenQuestion holds
Registered trials
Read under generation 80e0d062 · epoch 390. Bibliography from PubMed, PubMed Central and OpenAlex; grants from NIH RePORTER; trial links from ClinicalTrials.gov; estimates, votes and beliefs from the OpenQuestion graph.