Not so long ago, doctors depended on their pagers to keep up-to-date on patients' conditions, but now pagers are becoming a thing of the past at some hospitals.
At St. David's HealthCare in Austin, doctors are now increasingly relying on cell phones, thanks to new technology that lets them closely monitor patients from miles away.
"One of the greatest things is you can pop up in the morning and hit your AirStrip and all our patients are right there," said Dr. Christopher Seeker, an obstetrician/gynecologist. "Sometimes we don't know who exactly might have come in overnight and we don't have to wait for a phone call from one of our partners to see who is in the units and how far along they are."
Seeker is a big fan of the AirStrip OB technology that lets him read patient records and monitor vitals like blood pressure and fetal heart rate via his cell phone. That lets him know how patients are doing in real time.
"Now all they (the nurses) have to say is 'fetal heart rate,' and as they're describing it we're looking at the fetal heart rate problem (on the phone)," he said. "It lets you make decisions as if you're at the bedside."
On Friday, Dr.Seeker was monitoring patient and mom-to-be Jean Ridgeway at St. David's Women's Center of Texas as he tended to her and several other expectant mothers.
"I can see everything right here from the time Jean arrived right here," he said as he held his phone. "I can just hit one of these and it'll give me all the data that's been typed into her record."
He says he rarely walks down the hospital halls now without reading patient records on his cell phone.
"In the past, nurses would be typing away and writing all kinds of good information that goes to the computer, but the doctor never really had easy access to the information," he said. "All I need to do now is hit 'show all records,' and everything that's been recorded by the nurses since (a patient) arrived is right here."
Jean and her husband, Ryan,say they love the technology that lets Dr. Seeker see everything that is happening to Jean and their unborn child as Jean goes through labor.
"It just sort of eases my stress level to know he can monitor me through his day, while he's in other surgeries or seeing patients in the clinic. It makes me feel a little better."
