Trans-sectoral Patient Pathways

Uses

How it works

Highlighted claims

• A patient pathway is defined as the time-stamped sequence of care events, encounters and transitions during one urgent health problem episode, from initial contact to final treatment. — Trans-sectoral patient pathways in urgent and emergency care (TRANSPARENT study): protocol for a prospective, mixed-methods study in Germany
• Pathways are operationalised as the time-ordered sequence of urgent or emergency encounters within a 72-hour temporal window, or encounters sharing the same main complaint cluster. — Trans-sectoral patient pathways in urgent and emergency care (TRANSPARENT study): protocol for a prospective, mixed-methods study in Germany
• Pathway length is capped at 30 days, consistent with existing urgent and emergency care quality indicators; longer sequences are treated as chronic utilisation patterns. — Trans-sectoral patient pathways in urgent and emergency care (TRANSPARENT study): protocol for a prospective, mixed-methods study in Germany
• A new care episode is assumed when the interval between encounters exceeds the temporal window and the complaint cluster changes. — Trans-sectoral patient pathways in urgent and emergency care (TRANSPARENT study): protocol for a prospective, mixed-methods study in Germany
• Secondary outcomes include detection of redundant or potentially inappropriate utilisation, repeated emergency contacts, and bypassing of coordination structures such as 116117. — Trans-sectoral patient pathways in urgent and emergency care (TRANSPARENT study): protocol for a prospective, mixed-methods study in Germany