%0 Journal Article
%T The impact of care pathways for patients with proximal femur fracture: rationale and design of a cluster-randomized controlled trial
%A Kris Vanhaecht
%A Walter Sermeus
%A Jan Peers
%A Cathy Lodewijckx
%A Svin Deneckere
%A Fabri Leigheb
%A Steven Boonen
%A An Sermon
%A Paulo Boto
%A Rita Mendes
%A Massimiliano Panella
%A for the EQCP Study Group .
%J BMC Health Services Research
%D 2012
%I BioMed Central
%R 10.1186/1472-6963-12-124
%X An international cluster-randomized controlled trial (cRCT) will be performed in Belgium, Ireland, Italy and Portugal. Based on power analyses, a sample of 44 hospital teams and 437 patients per arm will be included in the study. In the control arm, usual care will be provided. Experimental teams will implement a care pathway which will include three active components: a formative evaluation of quality and organization of the care setting, a set of evidence-based key interventions, and support of the development and implementation of the CP. Main outcome will be the six-month mortality rate.The EQCP study constitutes the first international cRCT on care pathways. The EQCP project was designed as both a research and a quality improvement project and will provide a real-world framework for process evaluation to improve our understanding of why and when CP can really work.NCT00962910
%U http://www.biomedcentral.com/1472-6963/12/124/abstract