Reduced length of stay after implementation of a clinical pathway following repair of ventricular septal defect.

BACKGROUND

There is variation in care and hospital length of stay following surgical repair of ventricular septal defects. The use of clinical pathways in a variety of paediatric care settings has been shown to reduce practice variability and overall length of stay without increasing the rate of adverse events.

METHODS

A clinical pathway was created and used to guide care following surgical repair of ventricular septal defects. A retrospective review was done to compare patients two years prior and three years after the pathway was implemented.

RESULTS

There were 23 pre-pathway patients and 25 pathway patients. Demographic characteristics were similar between groups. Univariate analysis demonstrated a significantly shorter time to initiation of enteral intake in the pathway patients (median time to first enteral intake after cardiac ICU admission was 360 minutes in pre-pathway patients and 180 minutes in pathway patients, p < 0.01). Multivariate regression analyses demonstrated that the pathway use was independently associated with a decrease in time to first enteral intake (-203 minutes), hospital length of stay (-23.1 hours), and cardiac ICU length of stay (-20.5 hours). No adverse events were associated with the use of the pathway, including mortality, reintubation rate, acute kidney injury, increased bleeding from chest tube, or readmissions.

CONCLUSIONS

The use of the clinical pathway improved time to initiation of enteral intake and decreased length of hospital stay. Surgery-specific pathways may decrease variability in care while also improving quality metrics.