Computerized clinical dietetics management system.

A computerized Clinical Dietetics Management System (CDMS) was designed to support and facilitate accurate and timely delivery of clinical dietetics services. The CDMS is an integral part of a comprehensive hospital computer system that interfaces with 17 data bases. Thirty-one functions provide order processing, inquiry, calculations, message sending, charge capture, data base maintenance, and management reporting capabilities. System features include immediate and continuous access to the most current patient information, automatic routing of messages, a complete diet-order history for each patient and minimal printed output. Since implementation of the CDMS, users report benefits such as smoothing of workload peaks, fewer interruptions, fewer wasted trays, better and faster problem solving, and increased visibility in clinical dietetics services. The dynamic nature of the system allows additional applications to be added as they are developed.