Electronic vs paper based clinical pathway for episcleral brachytherapy. Preliminary results

Purpose To evaluate the clinical pathway for electronic episcleral brachytherapy and their comparison with the paper-based format. Methods Patients: Patients diagnosed with choroidal melanoma or angioma treated with epiescleral brachytherapy in our hospital since the entry into operation of the clinical pathway. The electronic clinical pathway was developed with an database Access. To quantify the following variances regarding the clinical pathway, in two formats are examined: The number of variances, number of patients with variances, variances related to patient-related professionals, related to the hospital, not attributable to any of the above, correctable and not correctable. Data treatment: chi-square test to determine the differences between the variations of the two formats clinical pathway is employed. The data were analyzed using a spreadsheet Excel and SPSS statistical application. Results There were no significant differences between the completion of both formats clinical pathway. Conclusion The computerisation benefit the continuity of the records of patients, allows easy access to information and provides a tool to monitor and evaluate the provision of care. It is described that help the decision-making in the individualized treatment and allows the work in ways that are not possible in paper-based environments. Acknowledgments: This work has been financed partly by a grant of the Junta de Castilla y Leon (Order SAN/1829/2007 of November 13, BOCYL of November 15, 2007)