Editorial

Is there still need for confusion about pathways? Care pathways are at the heart of quality and patient safety. This was the conclusion of the editorial in the previous issue of the International Journal of Care pathways.1 Although path-ways can be of major importance to guide multidisciplinary teams – including clinicians, managers and patients – in enhancing their daily operations, there is still a lot of con-fusion about this structured care methodology. The question arises if there is still need for confusion about pathways? The European Pathway Association (E-P-A), started in 2005, an international task force on defining a consensus definition of care pathways. A literature study on pathway definitions2 helped the taskforce in evaluating the available information from literature and the taskforce members com