Abu Dhabi - Abu Dhabi to create diagnosis and treatment guides

Citation

(2013), "Abu Dhabi - Abu Dhabi to create diagnosis and treatment guides", International Journal of Health Care Quality Assurance, Vol. 26 No. 3. https://doi.org/10.1108/ijhcqa.2013.06226caa.010

Abu Dhabi - Abu Dhabi to create diagnosis and treatment guides

Article Type: News and views From: International Journal of Health Care Quality Assurance, Volume 26, Issue 3

Keywords: Clinical care pathways for physicians, International medical research and clinical care pathways, Improvements in clinical practice

A set of clinical care pathways will soon guide physicians in the emirate of Abu Dhabi in the diagnosis, management and treatment of common diseases, senior health officials have announced.

The clinical care pathways will be developed for eight key health priorities in the region, including cardiovascular diseases, communicable diseases, cancer control and prevention, occupational health, mother-infant-child health and chronic conditions.

Based on international medical research and evidence, the pathways will be created by 25 leading physicians in the emirate, led by the Health Authority Abu Dhabi (HAAD) and clinical decision support company Zynx Health Middle East, said Zaid Al Siksek, chief executive officer at HAAD.

“The Abu Dhabi Clinical Pathways project is an important step forward for healthcare in the emirate. It will improve outcomes and standardise clinical practice,” Al Siksek said. In total, 68 pathways will initially be developed, and work on these will begin soon.

The first pathways will be generated by the second half of 2013. These will be made available online by 2014 to the Emirate’s 25,000 clinicians, as well as insurance executives and hospital staff.

“Clinical care pathways help present evidence about the best available forms of treatment and diagnosis to physicians at the point of care. They are especially important as physicians cannot keep always track of all the medical research that is relevant to their field of work,” Dr Oliver Harrison, director of strategy at the HAAD, told Gulf News.

As the first stage of developing these pathways for diagnosis and treatment, physicians will work to review medical research on the best and most appropriate diagnostic and treatment methods worldwide.

They will then consult with local doctors to discuss care pathways that are most relevant for people in the emirate.

Once a set of care guidelines has been finalised, HAAD will have the authority to approve it, said.

“These pathways could of course be changed in the future as new drugs and treatments are developed, or research conducted,” he added.

According to the HAAD, patients will benefit from better medical care based on international and local research, whereas insurance companies will be able to decide more easily on the efficiency of claims.

While some pathways will be provided purely to guide physicians in their choice of diagnosis or treatment, others could be made necessary except when there is a contra-indication.

“For example, providing aspirin is known to help patients suffering from heart attacks, as it helps thin the blood and prevent blood clots. A treatment step such as this, which is widely known to be efficient, could be required, and physicians who choose not to use it would have to explain to their decisions to superiors. In other cases, a range of treatment methods would be available to physicians,” Dr Harrison said.

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