integrated care pathway
integrated care pathway
A multidisciplinary and multi-agency approach to mapping patient care from the point of inpatient admission to discharge and ongoing care, with the goal of aggregating the data into one file to help the clinicians provide the best possible care. The ICP is a tool which embeds guidelines, protocols and locally agreed, evidence-based, person-centred best practice into everyday use for the patient, and provides a means of recording deviations from planned care in the form of variances.ICPs are intended to improve the patient's route for treatment through different health and social care systems by combining resources and co-ordinating working methods to prevent delays and bottle-necking of services. An ICP aims to have the right people doing the right things, in the right order, at the right time, in the right place and with the right outcome, all aimed at delivering excellent clinical outcomes and patient experience.