Pediatrics Research Today is a free monthly online journal that collates and summarizes the latest research about Pediatrics, including details on child development, perinatal medicine, child health care.

Of lobsters, electronic medical records, and neonatal total parenteral nutrition.

Costakos DT

Department of Neonatology, Franciscan Skemp-Mayo Health System, LaCrosse, WI 54601, USA. costakos.dennis@mayo.edu

At the Mayo Health System in LaCrosse, Wisconsin, there are >1000 infant total parenteral nutrition (TPN) orders placed per year. It is the most complicated order that the pharmacy fills, so a recent peer-review article in Pediatrics moved a group of us to action at our center to buy or develop a TPN calculator. We did this because no stand-alone commercial calculators were available to us, and expensive electronic medical records typically do not include TPN calculators for neonatal patients. The new software includes decision support, and the orders are consistently legible. The physician performs fewer calculations, and there are no mathematical errors. This article examines the broader significance of providers having to write their own TPN software.

Published 2 February 2006 in Pediatrics, 117(2): e328-32.
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