Nutrition Information in Oncology - Extending the Electronic Patient-Record Data Set

Area of Science:

• Health Informatics
• Clinical Nutrition
• Oncology

Background:

• Electronic health records (EHRs) offer vast patient data but face challenges in complex oncology settings.
• Existing EHR systems may lack specific clinical content for cancer nutrition care.
• Standardization is crucial for effective EHR application in specialized medical fields.

Purpose of the Study:

• To develop openEHR archetypes for key clinical concepts in cancer nutrition care.
• To create an openEHR-template integrating these new archetypes for use in EHRs.
• To address gaps in the Clinical Knowledge Manager (CKM) repository for oncology nutrition.

Main Methods:

• Literature review and expert surveys to identify essential nutrition care statements.
• Archetype modeling using Ocean Archetype Software and submission to the CKM repository.
• Template creation with Template Designer and conversion to a usable EHR format via VCIntegrator.

Main Results:

• Developed and submitted new openEHR archetypes for concepts like body composition, diet plans, and malnutrition screening.
• Four archetypes were accepted for review in the CKM repository.
• A functional openEHR-template was created and converted into an EHR.

Conclusions:

• Successfully designed novel openEHR archetypes for cancer patient nutrition management.
• These archetypes can be integrated into EHR systems to standardize and improve data.
• Further research is needed to validate their broader applicability and impact on clinical practice and research.