Clinical pathways at Norwegian hospitals 2003–2007. A general overview and special focus on cerebral infarction

Introduction Clinical pathways have been analyzed for all patients at all Norwegian somatic hospitals during the period 2003– 2007. A clinical pathway is defined as the number of contacts, and what kind of contact (outpatient visit, daycare, admission), that a patient had at the same hospital in a year. The paper will focus on changes during the five years, differences between university hospitals and others, and differences between three age groups – children (age 0– 17), adults (age 18–67) and elderly (age 68+). Special focus will be on clinical pathways for patients where the principal diagnosis (ICD-10) for the first registered admission was I61, I62 or I64 (cerebral infarction).