Advantages of IT-based clinical pathways in surgical treatment of non-specific spondylodiscitis

Objective: The German health care system increasingly incorporates clinical pathways as a tool to organize surgical, intervention or conservative therapies. Does a computerized clinical pathway offer advantages in severity-based surgical therapy of spondylodiscitis? Methods: A hospital has adopted a computerized system based on three severity grades of spondylodiscitis. From 01/01/2012 to 12/31/2013, 32 patients with spondylodiscitis were randomly chosen at admission and prospectively analysed with regard to duration, costs of treatment, pain level and inflammatory markers. Results: Of the 32 patients treated for spondylodiscitis who had not been transferred from another facility, 17 (53%) were treated according to a clinical pathway based on three well-established treatment regimens dependent on severity. The SponDT, as a parameter for the course of disease, was initially slightly higher in the pathway patient’s group (6.82) than in the control group (6.2). Compared to a control group (n = 15) there were differences in the total duration of stay (17.2 vs. 26.0) and the number of blood samples taken (7 vs. 10). No differences could be shown for the extent of documentation, the physical and neurological outcome, the level of pain and or the course of inflammatory markers. The most prevalent germ was Staphylococcus aureus (18.8%). In 43.8% of the patients, no infectious agent could be detected. Material costs and personnel-costs were significantly reduced in the pathway group (12,076 €) compared to 21,341 € in the control group. Conclusions: An IT-based clinical pathway is preferable for surgical therapy of spondylodiscitis based on three grades of severity and offers various advantages as a clinical and administrative regulative mechanism. The cost-effective treatment particularly stands out.