Connect Care Manual - Timeless Implementation

Timeless Implementation - Information and Supports

Update (August 31, 2026): The planned provincial changes to NICU and pediatric feeding orders, clinical documentation, and related workflows will not be implemented on September 15, 2026. Until a revised implementation plan is confirmed, sites should continue to follow current feeding order, documentation, and workflow processes.

Effective [date TBD], prescribers ordering infant and pediatric feeds will notice ordering changes in Connect Care related to the Timeless Medical Nutrition Platform implementation. Although not all locations will be using Timeless, the NICU and Pediatric Enteral Feeding orders will be changed for all users, with updated content and functionality to improve patient safety, reporting, and operational workflows, and to interface with Timeless for enteral feeds. Prescribers will not use the Timeless software directly, but order entry and product selection in Connect Care are required to support this system.

Details on the change and available supports will be added/updated here when available.

Prescriber Action Required

Cutover: Dietitians will complete order cutover the afternoon of [date TBD] by entering new future-dated orders that will become active [date TBD]. Please do not modify existing enteral feeding orders on [date TBD] without consulting your Registered Dietitian, unless a critical change is required. Changes made to existing orders during cutover may result in unintentional modifications or removal of orders. To support a smooth launch, avoid modifying existing orders and only place new enteral feeding orders from an ordering tool or the order browse after [date TBD] at 08:00. Please also validate that your existing orders still appear as intended.
Impacts to personalization: If you have personalized, saved, or favourited any of the affected orders in the Pediatric EN order panels, you will need to reapply these customizations (within the Diet/Nutrition section of the order sets) after the new orders are implemented [date TBD]. Affected users will be sent a one-time system notification on order sets/panels or an In Basket message.

Supports for Prescribers

For urgent enteral feeding order support when a dietitian is unavailable, please contact the IT Help Desk at 1-888-311-4300, press 1 for Connect Care, and request CMIO support (available 24/7). Please indicate that the request is urgent to ensure timely assistance.

Non-urgent questions or concerns:

For questions or concerns to the Timeless project team, please use this form: Timeless IPFMS Feedback Form.
Please see the resources linked below on this page for specific scenarios and questions.
If available, please consult your local dietitian or dietitian on call.
Feel free to reach out to your Site Medical Informatics Lead (sMIL) or Physician Medical Informatics for support.

Key Changes (click to expand/collapse)

Below is a summary of key changes to the NICU and Pediatric Enteral Feeding orders, followed by more details comparing current vs. future state for NICUs and pediatric inpatient wards. Additional details regarding these changes and potential feeding scenarios are available in the associated tip sheets.

Summary of NICU and Pediatric Enteral Feeding Order Changes

Updated content and functionality, will interface with the Timeless Medical Nutrition Platform.
Order names have changed to:
- - NICU Enteral Feeding
  - Pediatric Enteral Feeding with Tray
  - Pediatric Enteral Feeding without Tray
NICU Enteral Feeding order includes:
- - New required fields (hard stops) and hover guidance for prescribers.
  - Streamlined feed base options, including a combined EBM/DHM and, removal of shared breastmilk and tertiary milk source options.
  - Feed volume mL/kg/day replaced with mL and new frequencies.
  - New separate modular options.
Pediatrics Enteral Feeding orders include:
- - New required fields (hard stops) and hover guidance for prescribers.
  - New population-specific ordering options (infant, pediatric, metabolic, ketogenic).
  - Removal of donor human milk.
  - Enhanced recipe functionality, including complex recipe ordering, separate modulars, and a secondary feed order.
The Enteral Feeding Safe Start, Pediatric order has been retired due to lack of use.
The Oral Immune Therapy (OIT) order is no longer a medication record, with updated content and functionality.
Feeding Label orders will now just have one label per source type (e.g., breastmilk, formula) and will only be used for non-Timeless units.

NICUs in Alberta

This order may be a change in current practice.

Current state: Many NICUs order feeds as a TFI in mL/kg/d and have the bedside nurses determine the feed volume for weight.
Future state:
- Timeless will not accept a TFI order. The field is still available but it is mandatory to do the calculation yourself and indicate the "Feed volume" in mL (i.e., mL/feed or mL/h for infusions) and Feed frequency. From this, the system will calculate the volume needed to be prepared and communicate with Timeless.
- The order will need to be routinely updated to ensure the feed volume and frequency remain appropriate as weight changes occur.

Pediatric Inpatient Wards in Alberta

For the most part, inpatient pediatrics will use the second order "Pediatric Enteral Feeding with or without Tray", but it is important to be aware of the difference as, when transferring patients out of the NICU, you should discontinue the "NICU Enteral Feeding" order and place the "Pediatric Enteral Feeding" order.

Current state:
- Multiple feeding orders available with cascading questions (questions that display depending on what was previously selected), no/minimal required fields (hard stops).
- Complex recipes added into "additional info" field by dietitians.
- Patient food services transcribe complex feed orders into another system, adding risk for error.
Future state:
- 2 feed orders: "Pediatric Enteral Feeding with Tray" or "Pediatric Enteral Feeding without Tray".
- Multiple mandatory fields, to ensure accurate information is transferred to Timeless to create feed recipes.
- No manual transcription of orders into Timeless.
- New nomenclature:
  - Base = Formula or milk
  - Modular = Formula additive used to increase nutrition or calories.
  - Feed Separately = Modular given as separate dose (like a medication)
  - In Recipe = Modular mixed into milk base
- New required field for "Volume to prepare (mL/day)" to indicate how much feed is needed for 24 hours.
- Separate required field for "Rate" or "Volume per Feed" to inform the volume to be fed at the bedside.
- If updating the "Volume to Feed in the order", also need to update "Volume to prepare".
- All special diets (e.g., ketogenic, metabolic) are ordered within the same order.
- For complex formula recipes, it is strongly encouraged to have Registered Dietician consultation.
- Nuances: If ordering just "Breast feed on demand" there will be a speed button for this. However, if wanting a back up formula, will need to order a "Primary feed base" of "Breastmilk (EBM)" with a "Secondary feed base" of a formula and will need to indicate a total "Volume to be prepared" to indicate how much the infant might require.

Prescriber Resources

The orders are available now to review in the PLY environment by searching “cutover” in Orders (see a screenshot here). PLY logins are as follows:

NICU## (choose any number between 01-19);
PED## (choose any number between 01-19)
Password: train

For further details, see the resources below: