Best Practices for Treatment Pathway (Workflow) Design

It is a collaborative process.

Initial Design Discussion

Include, at a minimum, a patientNOW Trainer and a representative from your practice.

Have the right people at your practice involved in the design (e.g. decision makers and supervisors).

Keep the initial discussion in English; don’t use patientNOW-specific terminology.

Actual Workflow design

Use what exists (this is called process recycling). What is your practice doing now?

Have all the information you need before you begin (e.g. who, what, where, when, why, and how).

KISS – Keep it Simple.

Reduce the manual decision-making as much as possible.

Make it flexible; you should not have to change the entire workflow if one staff member leaves or a specific template changes.

Other Things to Keep in Mind

Design the workflow to accommodate the majority of your patients.

If 85% of your patients follow the same path, design the workflow and Pathway to accommodate the 85%. A workflow should NOT be designed for a very specific patient in a very specific instance.

Plan for changes in the practice as it grows.

Design it so that you don’t have to change the steps; just change the templates or the person assigned to perform the task.

Clearly Identify before Beginning

• Goal
• Trigger
• End Point

Some Sample Workflows

For additional information, check out An Everyday Workflow Example

and A Sample Inquiry Workflow Example