News > Patient and public involvement

This article in this weeks British Medical Journal (BMJ) explores the steps involved in mapping the patient’s journey, what it is used for, the benefits of process mapping and how to go about process mapping a hospital service.

Process mapping allows clinicians to see and understand the patient’s experience by separating the management of a specific condition or treatment into a series of consecutive events or steps. The sequence of these steps between two points (from admission to the accident and emergency department to discharge from the ward) can be viewed as a patient pathway or process of care. The data provided by process mapping can be used to redesign the patient pathway, to improve the quality or efficiency of clinical management and to alter the focus of care towards activities most valued by the patient.

Taken from the BMJ, subscription required:  www.bmj.com/cgi/content/full/341/aug13_1/c4078