New electronic protocol for home enteral nutrition therapy.

BACKGROUND Informatics can help the development of home enteral nutrition therapy (HENT). By using an electronic protocol with an electronic database it is possible to organize, structure and manage, information. AIM To develop an electronic protocol for data collection on treatment of patients with home enteral nutrition. METHOD After a review in theoretical material about home enteral nutrition therapy, 1793 data collection items were selected and grouped into nine categories: patient identification, nutritional assessment, dietetics prescription, indications for enteral nutrition, access to enteral nutrition options, composition of enteral nutrition, administration system, complications, and readmission. Was used the Electronic Integrated Computerized Procotols System (SINPE©) to organize that knowledge and the database that attends this research was named Informatized Master Protocol of HENT. The last step was the creation of a specific protocol to collect data by using informations from this database. RESULTS After installing the program, the system recognizes the user by identifying a pre-defined security authorization and also provides a screen to select a master protocol which the user can access. Items that arrange the specific protocol are contained in the Master Protocol and the information for this protocol are displayed. CONCLUSION It was possible to create an electronic protocol for HENT patients care with safety data based on research in enteral nutrition support.