Clinical Pathways in Knee and Hip Arthroplasty: Narrative Review on Sustainability, Quality, and Resource Management.

ABSTRACT:

Background

Increasing arthroplasty volumes are testing health care system capacity, budgets, and workforce resilience. Clinical pathways (CPWs) provide a practical, evidence-based structure that aligns perioperative actions from preparation through follow-up. In this review, we treat three aims as coprimary: quality (patient outcomes and adherence to best practice); resource management and efficiency at the episode level (eg, length of stay, perioperative flow, direct costs); and sustainability, defined as the ability to maintain high-quality services over time by optimizing financial, human, and environmental resources while safeguarding equitable access.

Objective

This study aimed to describe the main CPW subtypes used in hip and knee arthroplasty and synthesize evidence o

SUBMITTER: Godinho M 

PROVIDER: S-EPMC12520643 | biostudies-literature | 2025 Oct

REPOSITORIES: biostudies-literature