TITLE: PROVING YOUR WORTH: DOCUMENTING THE COSTEFFECTIVENESS OF NUTRITION INTERVENTIONS WITH YOURPERSONAL DATA ASSISTANT

AUTHOR(S): S.L.Brantley, M.S., R.D., CNSD, LDN; S.Rowe, PharmD;University of Tennessee Medical Center, Department of Pharmacy,Knoxville, TN

LEARNING OUTCOME: To devise a computerized method to documentnutrition interventions, automatically associating a cost savings to eachaction and/or nutrition intervention.

TEXT: In the current healthcare environment, treatment that produces apositive outcome yet proves to be cost-effective is a valuable objective.Many nutrition interventions associated with the provision of nutritionsupport in critically ill, hospitalized patients can significantly affect bothoutcome and hospital cost. A method was devised to document nutritioninterventions when patients were assessed and treated. The use of aPersonal Data Assistant (PDA) is a valuable tool to document theseinterventions and their associated costs in an efficient manner. A costanalysis was performed for some nutrition interventions particular to theprovision of specialized nutrition support. These included the avoidance ofstarting parenteral nutrition, adding or changing certain components inthe parenteral solution, stopping fingerstick blood glucose checks whenindicated, placement of feeding tubes at the bedside to avoid placementunder fluoroscopy, changing the enteral feeding formulas to a morestandard formula as patient condition allowed, and changing the route ofmedications to a less expensive form. The resulting calculation of costsavings associated with each intervention was electronically linked whenentered into the PDA. At the end of the day, the PDA could besynchronized with the main hospital computer system. This downloadserved the purpose of storing the day’s activities electronically. Reportscould then be generated at selected intervals for distribution todepartmental supervisors and to the hospital administration. Because ofthis method of documentation of the cost-benefit of nutrition interventions,the nutrition support service documented annual cost-savings rangingfrom $20,000 to $60,000.

FUNDING DISCLOSURE: NONE

SUNDAY, SEPTEMBER 17

ORIGINAL CONTRIBUTIONS: MEASURING EFFECTIVENESS AND BENEFITS OF NUTRITION INTERVENTION (PART 3)

A-14 / August 2006 Suppl 2—Abstracts Volume 106 Number 8