Overview of the Development of a Generic Integrated Care Pathway in a Department of Medicine for the Elderly

Quality of care has long been a driving force in services within the NHS. Current policy drivers such as clinical governance have encouraged health-care professionals to develop evidence-based high-quality models of care. Here we describe the development and implementation of a generic integrated care pathway (ICP) designed to enhance the quality of care provided throughout the Department of Medicine for the Elderly in a general hospital. The department comprised approximately 120 beds, which focused on assessment and rehabilitation of the older people following acute hospital admission. The described pathway is unusual in that it takes a broad interdisciplinary and multiagency view of care needs rather than a diseaseor problem-specific perspective. It was developed as one element of an action research study seeking to promote evidence-based nursing practice.