The overall objective is to develop and deliver an automated decision support tool to assess the nutritional status of infants and toddlers aged 0-3 years. The program will review both enteral and I.V. delivery of nutrients, and will be applicable to both inpatient and outpatient settings. Phase I has the specific objective of providing a working prototype system with source code and user's manual. The program will contain an elaborate array of decision trees produced from current AAPCON and ASPEN recommendations. The program will evaluate a patient's intake and produce current nutritional intake values. The intake values will be evaluated against current standards, and recommendations will be made to correct any variations. Growth curves will be generated for all patients. Curve selection will be based on corrected age when appropriate, and will take geographical data into consideration. Curves and nutrition reports will be printable for chart documentation, and the Gomez scores will be available for helping to determine intake adequacy.
The tool will be in commercial demand at hospitals and clinics needing neonatal or pediatric nutrition experts. Food service companies that contract for health care and nutritional products manufacturers producing pediatric supplements will use it. It will substantially improve the efficiency of neonatal nutritionists and the accuracy of their care plans.
