The neonatal intensive care unit at Cedars-Sinai Medical Center in Los Angeles is using an algorithm within its Epic EHR to calculate a score that displays infants' weight change from birth in an easily accessible time series visualization, EpicShare reported Jan. 24.
The EHR tool uses the z-score, a method for tracking the growth of infants with very low birth weights. Cedars-Sinai neonatologists Kurlen Payton, MD, and Raymond Duncan, MD, and pediatrician Cameron Escovedo, MD, led the effort to integrate the automated z-score calculation and flowsheet visualization in the EHR.
The hospital said the tool's implementation has improved premature infants' growth, and the automated score has saved nurses time, according to the report. Neonatal nurses no longer need to calculate the score on an external site, so they save 1 minute per day on each patient. With an average of 30 eligible patients at a time, each nurse saves 30 minutes daily or 3.5 hours per week, the report said.
Read the full report here.