Purpose or Case Report: Patients requiring enteral support typically have not had a primary provider for the maintenance of their enteral tubes and at many institutions are only seen on an as-needed basis. Specifically, patients with gastrojejunal feeding tubes tend to present acutely (e.g. tube occlusion, dysfunction or accidental removal) to Interventional Radiology (IR) departments with need for exchange. Standard patient presentation is via the ED or their GI offices after significant time investment on the part of the families and involved providers to arrange the IR visit.
Methods & Materials: To help alleviate the utilization of acute resources, we implemented an enteral care program (ECP) that allowed our IR team to serve as the primary resource this patient population, with specific focus on device education and pre-emptive exchange of these devices in concordance with manufacturer instructions for use (IFU). Working with a device manufacturer, we educated our interventional radiology team about proper use, maintenance and troubleshooting. This education was further disseminated through our hospital system (inpatient, ED and outpatient staff). In parallel, our IT partners for developed a dashboard tracking technology which allowed real-time snapshots of patients who were without follow-up appointments or were beyond their prescribed date of exchange.

Key indicators were identified prior to development of the dashboard:
Enteral tube type (GJ vs. cecostomy)
Frequency of changes of tubes – Best practice
Date and Days since the last enteral tube change
Order placement for next tube change
Scheduled appointment for next tube change

Utilizing Microsoft Power BI software, a visual dashboard was devised that includes a provider view and Scheduler view of relevant data for problem solving.
Results: In doing so, we were able to reduce ED visits for most indications other than accidental removals.
Conclusions: The use of a data management tool allowed us to reduce the strain on acute-care resources and improve care delivery to a traditionally sidelined patient population.