Indirect Calorimetry Access for Critical Need Populations through an Inter-Disciplinary Workflow

$25,000 Award

Project Overview

Over and underfeeding during periods of critical illness are associated with increased hospital length of stay, increased duration of mechanical ventilation, metabolic aberrations and infectious complications. Many populations served in the R Adams Cowley Shock Trauma Center are under-represented in literature validating predictive energy equations, and therefore access to timely indirect calorimetry (IC) studies is critical to optimizing the care of our patients. Our innovation proposes a collaborative team-based workflow to successfully meet IC demand by increasing capacity from 3 to 10 or more studies weekly and reducing time to study availability from 7 days to no more than 3 days. Optimizing nutrition care in these populations will positively influence clinically relevant outcomes and improve patient safety.

Project Team

• Mary-Ann Purtill, MD – Physician Sponsor
• Rosemary Kozar, MD, PhD – Physician Sponsor
• Stacy Pelekhaty, MS, RD, LDN, CNSC – Process Owner
• Dino Gaetani, BSHA, RRT, RPFT – Process Facilitator
• Cheryl Epps, MS, RRT-ACCS – Process Facilitator
• Karen Riggin, RD, LDN, CNSC
• Chris Kircher, MS, RRT-ACCS
• Alison Winter-Lai, MS, RD, CSO, CDN