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).
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.
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.
Last approved: January 2022
Last approved: February 2023
Last approved: April 2023
Last approved: February 2024
Last approved: October 2023
- Croup primary care/UC/ED (Interactive)
- Croup primary care/UC/ED (PDF)
- Croup primary care/UC/ED (CME link) - for Cook Children's providers only
Last approved: July 2022
Last approved: February 2023
Last approved: April 2024
Last approved: November 2023
- Endotracheal Aspirate Cultures (Interactive)
- Endotracheal Aspirate Cultures (CME link) - for Cook Children's providers only
Last approved: January 2024
Last approved: November 2023
Last approved: October 2023
- Hypertonic saline in TBI and stroke (Interactive)
- Hypertonic saline in TBI and stroke (PDF)
- Hypertonic saline in TBI and stroke (CME link) - for Cook Children's providers only
Last approved: October 2023
Last approved: January 2024
- Opioid ingestion (Interactive)
- Opioid ingestion (CME link) - for Cook Children's providers only
Last approved: October 2023
Last approved: July 2021
Last approved: October 2023
Last approved: March 2024
Last approved: July 2023
- Clinical pathway: Pit viper snakebite (Interactive)
- Clinical pathway: Pit viper snakebite (PDF)
- Clinical pathway: Pit viper snakebite (CME Link) - for Cook Children's providers only
Last approved: September 2022
Last approved: October 2022
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.