Alternative ways of facilitating nutritional support without a nutrition support team

In the absence of a formal nutritional support team, a group of physicians, pharmacists, dietitians, and nurses at the authors' institution organized to devise alternative ways to facilitate nutritional support. The efforts of this group led to the redesign of the Pharmacy Department's parenteral nutrition order form into a clinical tool for the prescribing physician, and the development of a system for daily patient monitoring by dietitians and pharmacists for patients receiving specialized nutritional products. The delivery of parenteral nutrition was also streamlined to coordinate with the daily patient monitoring. A future goal is to increase three-way communication and teamwork among the physicians, dietitians, and pharmacists. These methods may be practical alternatives to facilitating nutritional support without the benefit of a support team.