Algorithms, Clinical Practice Guidelines, and Standardized Clinical Assessment and Management Plans: Evidence-Based Patient Management Standards in Evolution

摘要

In this issue, Farias and colleagues describe how to develop a clinical care pathway by using a structured, continuous learning process embedded within the day-to-day delivery of care. Their method is called Standardized Clinical Assessment and Management Plans (SCAMPs). A care pathway, such as a SCAMP, includes multiple decision points and related recommendations. The SCAMP process can test the validity of each decision point if clinicians document patient data and record their reasoning when they deviate from the recommended action at a decision point. The unique feature of SCAMPs is that they encourage dissent, unlike clinical practice guidelines (CPGs), algorithms, and bundled electronic health record protocols, which are designed to be followed. If a clinician deviates from the recommended action at a decision point, an explanation is required. This feedback, which should explain why a patient does not precisely "fit" the logic of the care pathway, may lead the SCAMP developers to modify the decision point.