Treatment Protocols

September 1 2005 Mark Sanna
Treatment Protocols
September 1 2005 Mark Sanna

Treatment protocols are care paths, based upon accepted utilization guide­lines and a consensus among the health­care delivering team, that organize the diagnostic and therapeutic services that arc appropriate to a patient's condition and how often each should be performed. Essentially, treatment pro­tocols map out case man­agement decisions and arc individualized according to each patient's specific complicating or attenuating factors. They summarize what is to be done, how often, and for how long. Treatment protocols consist of three basic components: diagnostic procedures, passive interventions that may be pro­vided by the practitioner, and active in­terventions that patients may perform on their own. Treatment protocols, centered on a plan of intervention and monitoring, map the processes and chronology that practitioners go through in making their clinical decisions. There is no such thing as "one size fits all" care. However, a more efficient ap- proach to case management is to modify a set treatment protocol, based upon an individual patient's needs, rather than to create one from scratch (or memory) each time care is provided. Treatment protocols provide a concise methodology for the application of care over the dura­tion of the case, be it brief and episodic or of longer term. Each patient responds uniquely to the care he or she receives and, through regular reassessment of the clinical progress, treatment pro­tocols can be modified to reflect the level of patient progress. Treatment protocols also make possible the retrospective recon­struction of the clinical decision making process. Well-organized treatment protocols capture the details of the courses of action that were performed throughout care. Without the benefit of a treatment protocol, it may be difficult for practitioners to remember exactly why they approached a specific situation in the way that they did. Treat­ment protocols help to coordinate care and keep everyone on the healthcare delivery team on track. Everyone knows what is going on all the time. Dr. Mark Sunmi is the CEO of Breakthrough Coaching, Ll.C. a leading resource for personal coaching to chiropractic anil multi-disciplinary practices throughout the country. He can be reached at Breakthrough Coaching, LLC, by calling l-X00-7-ADVICE.fE&