Depression Clinical Pathway — Outpatient Behavioral Health and Primary Care

Monitor Response

Once a plan of care is initiated, a follow-up rating scale and brief clinical interview should be used to assess clinical response to treatment. It is recommended to use the same rating scale (BDI-II, CDI-2, PHQ-9, PHQ-A, DSM-5 Self-Rated Level 2- Depression- Child Age 11-17, CDRS-R or MADRS) as the initial evaluation and to repeat the rating scale monthly during acute treatment, and every 3 months during continuation and maintenance treatment.

Functioning should also be reassessed using the Clinical Global Assessment of Functioning Scale (CGAS) or The Columbia Impairment Scale (CIS), Youth and Parent monthly during acute treatment and every 3 months during continuation and maintenance treatment.

If you have questions about any of the clinical pathways or about the process of creating a clinical pathway, please contact us.

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The clinical pathways are based upon publicly available medical evidence and/or a consensus of medical practitioners at The Children’s Hospital of Philadelphia (“CHOP”) and are current at the time of publication. These clinical pathways are intended to be a guide for practitioners and may need to be adapted for each specific patient based on the practitioner’s professional judgment, consideration of any unique circumstances, the needs of each patient and their family, and/or the availability of various resources at the health care institution where the patient is located.

Accordingly, these clinical pathways are not intended to constitute medical advice or treatment, or to create a doctor-patient relationship between/among The Children’s Hospital of Philadelphia (“CHOP”), its physicians and the individual patients in question. CHOP does not represent or warrant that the clinical pathways are in every respect accurate or complete, or that one or more of them apply to a particular patient or medical condition. CHOP is not responsible for any errors or omissions in the clinical pathways, or for any outcomes a patient might experience where a clinician consulted one or more such pathways in connection with providing care for that patient.