Clinical Pathways

Clinical pathways are resources for healthcare providers, offering recommendations on the care of patients with a particular clinical condition. Clinical pathways are meant to complement clinical judgment. They are not meant to be applied rigidly in all cases. Our goal in sharing these pathways is to standardize best practice and provide resources to practitioners. These pathways are developed through review of current literature and best available evidence by individual clinical champions and other content experts working in collaboration with the Cook Children's Clinical Excellence Committee (CEC).

To add this collection of resources to your iOS or Android home screen, follow these steps.

Last approved: October 2024

Aberrant EBV (Interactive)

Last approved: January 2022

Anxiety, diagnosis and management in primary care (PDF)

Last approved: February 2023

NOTE: CME link for staff can be found on CookNet.

Last approved: February 2022

Last approved: April 2023

Evidence-based pathway for the management of suspected non-accidental trauma (NAT) or bruising in children ≤ 4 years old (PDF)

Last approved: April 2023

ED/Urgent care button battery ingestion (PDF)

Last approved: October 2024

Calcium channel blocker/ beta blocker ingestion (Interactive)

Last approved: February 2024

Chronic pain clinical pathway (Interactive)

Last approved: July 2023

Last approved: May 2024

Congenital CMV (Interactive)

Last approved: October 2023

NOTE: CME link for staff can be found on CookNet.

Last approved: July 2022

Depression, diagnosis and management in primary care (PDF)

Last approved: February 2023

ED DKA clinical pathway (Interactive)

Last approved: June 2024.

NOTE: CME link for staff can be found on CookNet.

Last approved: April 2024

Eating Disorder - ED/inpatient (Interactive)

Last approved: October 2022

Last approved: November 2023

Endotracheal Aspirate Cultures (Interactive)

NOTE: CME link for staff can be found on CookNet.

Last approved: January 2024

Last approved: May 2024

Genetic testing stewardship (Interactive)

NOTE: CME link for staff can be found on CookNet.

Last approved: November 2023

Hemophagocytic Lymphohistiocytosis and Macrophage Activation Syndrome (Interactive)

Last approved: October 2023

NOTE: CME link for staff can be found on CookNet.

Last approved: July 2024

Last approved: October 2024

Intralipid emulsion therapy for drug intoxication (Interactive)

Last approved: October 2023

Kawasaki Disease: Launch page (Interactive)

NOTE: CME link for staff can be found on CookNet.

Last approved: June 2024

Last approved: August 2024

Last approved: September 2022

Last approved: September 2024

Obstetric hypertensive emergency pathway (Interactive)

Last approved: January 2024

Opioid ingestion (Interactive)

NOTE: CME link for staff can be found on CookNet.

Last approved: July 2022

Last approved: October 2024

PICU delirium prevention and treatment (Interactive)

Last approved: October 2024

PICU sedation and pain management for mechanically ventilated patients (Interactive)

Last approved: September 2024

Postpartum hemorrhage prevention and treatment pathway (Interactive)

NOTE: CME link for staff can be found on CookNet.

Last approved: May 2024

Primary amebic meningoencephalitis (Interactive)

NOTE: CME link for staff can be found on CookNet.

Last approved: October 2023

Rapid sequence intubation, trauma protocol (Interactive)
- Rapid sequence intubation, trauma protocol (PDF)

Last approved: July 2021

Last approved: October 2023

NOTE: CME link for staff can be found on CookNet.

Last approved: March 2024

Sickle cell disease: Acute pain crisis treatment in the ED (Interactive)

Last approved: July 2024

NOTE: CME link for staff can be found on CookNet.

Last approved: July 2023

NOTE: CME link for staff can be found on CookNet.

Last approved: September 2022

Diagnosis and management of staphylococcus aureus bacteremia (PDF)

Last approved: August 2024

Stress ulcer prophylaxis PICU (Interactive)

Last approved: July 2023

NOTE: CME link for staff can be found on CookNet.

Last approved: July 2023

Last approved: June 2024

NOTE: CME link for staff can be found on CookNet.

Last approved: October 2022

Vancomycin dosing and therapeutic monitoring pathway (PDF)

About Cook Children's clinical pathways

Our clinical pathways are built upon the latest medical evidence and are intended as a reference for practitioners. Clinical pathways may need to be adapted to each specific patient based on the practitioner’s professional judgment, consideration of any unique circumstances, the needs of the patient and their family, and the resources available where the patient is receiving care.
Accordingly, these clinical pathways are not intended to constitute medical advice or treatment, or to create a doctor-patient relationship between/among Cook Children’s, its physicians, and the individual patients in question.
While every effort is made to ensure the accuracy and comprehensiveness of the published clinical pathways, it is acknowledged that they may not encompass every possible scenario or medical situation.

Access clinical pathways on your mobile devices

For iOS:

1. Open Safari and navigate to the webpage you want to add.
2. Tap the Share icon (square with an upward arrow).
3. Select "Add to Home Screen".
4. Optionally edit the name, then tap "Add".

For Android:

1. Open Chrome or your default browser and navigate to the webpage.
2. Tap the three-dot menu icon and select "Add to Home screen".
3. Optionally edit the name, then tap "Add".

The webpage will now appear as an app icon on your home screen. Tapping the icon will open Cook Children's clinical pathways in your default browser.

Evidence-based care for every child

Clinical pathways can serve as the foundation for quality improvement initiatives, offering process maps that, when coupled with metrics, enable the monitoring of patient care effectiveness and efficiency. Cook Children's clinical pathways are periodically adapted to incorporate new evidence and insights, making them pivotal in bridging the gap between evidence and real-time clinical decision-making.

The following clinical pathways help us provide evidence-based care for every child. As information and research regarding equitable care and health disparities evolve in pediatrics, Cook Children’s clinical pathways will also continue to evolve.

Accuracy and comprehensiveness

These clinical pathways are not meant to replace medical advice or treatment, nor do they establish a doctor-patient relationship between Cook Children's and the patients they pertain to. While every effort is made to ensure the accuracy and comprehensiveness of the published clinical pathways, it's acknowledged that they may not encompass every possible scenario or medical situation. As such, Cook Children's assumes no responsibility for any errors or omissions in the pathways or for any outcomes resulting from their use by healthcare providers.

Questions and comments

Please feel free to bring forward any questions to our Clinical Pathways team at pathways@cookchildrens.org.

Clinical Pathways

Aberrant EBV

Anxiety

Asthma

Bronchiolitis

Bruising, non-accidental trauma

Button battery ingestion

Calcium channel blocker/ beta blocker ingestion

Chronic pain

Community-acquired pneumonia

Congenital CMV

Croup primary care/UC/ED

Depression

DKA

Duration of Antibiotic Therapy

Eating disorder (ED/inpatient)

Empyema

Endotracheal Aspirate Cultures (EAC)

Fever and neutropenia (oncology patients)

Genetic testing stewardship

Hemophagocytic lymphohistiocytosis and macrophage activation syndrome

Hypertension (primary care)

Hypertonic saline in TBI and stroke

Hypoglycemia

Intralipid emulsion therapy for drug intoxication

Kawasaki clinical pathways

Measles identification and testing, ambulatory

Migraine management ED/Inpatient

Neonatal fever

Obstetric hypertensive emergency

Opioid Ingestion

Pancreatitis

PICU delirium prevention and treatment

PICU sedation and pain management for mechanically ventilated patients

Postpartum hemorrhage prevention and treatment

Primary amebic meningoencephalitis

Rapid sequence intubation, trauma protocol

Seizure

Severe traumatic brain injury (TBI)

Sickle cell disease

Skin and soft tissue infection

Snakebite

Staphylococcus aureus bacteremia

Stress ulcer prophylaxis PICU

Suicide screening and care

Tympanostomy tube placement

Urinary tract infection (UTI)

Vancomycin dosing

About Cook Children's clinical pathways

Access clinical pathways on your mobile devices

Evidence-based care for every child

Accuracy and comprehensiveness

Questions and comments