Development of a Regional Clinical Pathway for Total Hip Replacement in a Rural Health Network

The Grey Bruce Health Network began developing regional clinical pathways in 2002 (Meleskie and Wilson 2003). The Total Hip Replacement (THR) pathway was one of the first developed. A three-stage pathway, the THR pathway has an acute stage for the first five hospital days following surgery, a post-acute stage for convalescent care in hospital and a community-care stage for community physiotherapy after hospital discharge. Pilot results (119 patients) have shown an increase in information transfer, streamlining care and increasing efficiencies (capacity savings of over $92,000), increased usage of best practices, more consistent care across the continuum of care and decreased length of stay (by 1.55 days) at the regional hospital centre.