AUTOMATED FETAL MONITORING RECORDS MANAGEMENT SYSTEM

THE HARD-COPY FETAL MONITOR RECORD (FMR) PRODUCED AND ANNOTATED DURING LABOR CONTAINS THE HISTORY OF THE LABOR AND IS PART OF THE PATIENTS RECORD. THE BULK AND FORM OF THE FMR IS UNACCEPTABLE FOR THE CHART, THE MEDICAL RECORDS SYSTEM, OR LONG-TERM RETENTION: ALL ARE CRITICAL TO PATIENT MANAGEMENT AS WELL AS DOCUMENTATION OF CARE PROVIDED. MICROFILMING IS EXPENSIVE, TIME CONSUMING, AND MUST BE CAREFULLY MANAGED. AN EFFICIENT AND EFFECTIVE SOLUTION IS TO AUTOMATICALLY CAPTURE THE FMR DATA DURING LABOR IN ORDER TO PRINT HARD-COPY OF ARCHIVAL QUALITY AND SUITABLE FOR IMMEDIATE INSERTION INTO THE CHART. MACHINE REVIEW AND STORAGE ARE ADDED BENEFITS. WE PROPOSE ADDING MEMORY, PROCESSING AND PRINTING TO BIOMEDICS' NETWORK OF DIGITAL BEDSIDE OBSTETRICAL DATA SYSTEM (FETASCAN 1000). THIS SYSTEM WILL PRINT ALL ANNOTATED FMRS IN CHART-COMPATIBLE FORM AT ANY TIME. DURING PHASE I WE WILL BUILD, VALIDATE AND DOCUMENT A PROTOTYPE SYSTEM. VALIDATION WILL INCLUDE CLINICAL ACCEPTABILITY OF THE REFORMATTED AND COMPRESSED DATA, VIDEO REVIEW FEATURES AND A MACHINE READIBLE STORAGE METHOD. THE BIOMEDICS AND UNIVERSITY OF WASHINGTON INVESTIGATORS HAVE DECADES OF EXPERIENCE IN FETAL MONITORING, CLINICAL DATA SYSTEMS, DATA COMPRESSION, AND SYSTEMS ENGINEERING.