The perioperative and postoperative course of patients diagnosed with benign or malignant tumours of the mouth and face as well as a planned microvascular reconstruction with a vascularized free flap is a very complicated and requires coordination of many different services, diagnostics and procedures.
A clinical care pathway (CCP) is an algorithm based plan that includes daily interventions and goals that are specific for the patient’s diagnosis and treatment. It involves the completion of milestones at every treatment day from the pre-operative period, throughout the post-operative period until discharge from hospital. The goal is to allow for standardization and streamlining of the treatment process. Standardization of these complex processes has the potential to improve communication between different disciplines and specialties treating the patient, reduce hospital length of stay and complications. This also translates to reduction in the treatment cost to our health care system. Our CCP has the potential to provide a major advancement in the way care is delivered for patients undergoing these complex procedures.
Abo Sharkh H, Madathil S, Al-Ghamdi O, Agnihotram RV, Sinha A, El-Hakim M, Nicolau B, Makhoul N : A Comprehensive Clinical Care Pathway for Microvascular Maxillofacial Reconstructive Surgery. JOMS. November 2019. Volume 77, Issue 11. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.joms.2019.04.027.
