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Austin doctors using phones to help care for moms-to-be

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by CLARA TUMA / KVUE News

Posted on November 20, 2009 at 4:20 PM

Updated Friday, Nov 20 at 5:35 PM

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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."

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cakowalik said on November 21, 2009 at 9:44 AM

I'm not impressed by this app. at all. Isn't it a doctor's job to be at his patient's bedside? Now, he can check things out from the golf course or a restaurant across town. I wonder, too, if he requires continuous electronic fetal monitoring, which has been shown to lead to unnecessary interventions in labor. Once again, this is a way of making birth more convenient for doctors without regard for the natural process of childbirth.

redheadeddude said on November 24, 2009 at 7:12 AM

cakowalk, it is not the doctor's job to be at his patient's bedside. It's the doctor's job to care for his patient. As the patient said at the end of the story, the physician may be in surgery or attending another patient. Even doctors have a hard time being at two bedsides at once. Perhaps you'll be happy when hospitals go back to wards instead of private rooms. Is that how you see progress?

babyhurtatbirth6 said on December 23, 2009 at 8:30 PM

let me get some issues straight here. the obstetrician/gynecologist needs better communication w/ the nursing staff and vice versa, then they need to be nice to the patients---like have some decency and humility towards the mother-to-be and their family. and make sure the staff is trained fully. we are not cows to be herded in and herded out of the maternity ward. there are real human baby's in our uterus's/uterus'.... a blackberry is great if the building blocks of following P&P's correctly and, again, treating the patient(s) w/ dignity and having trained and qualified staff members. obstetrician/gynecologist need to go back to this: no cutting corners. go from step one, two and three, etc. the nurses need to do the same. human communication is lacking at this hospital, in my opinion. the obstetrician/gynecologist relies on the nurses too much in labor and delivery. change it, please, to save babies.....

babyhurtatbirth6 said on December 23, 2009 at 8:35 PM

and what if the nurse at the hospital doesn't type in the information correctly? and what if the obstetrician/gynecologist reads it incorrectly? there's nothing better than verbal communication, always, and it is lacking at this hospital, in my opinion, and in central texas---in general... stop herding patients in for $. in my opinion...

babyhurtatbirth6 said on December 23, 2009 at 8:38 PM

remember--when they say phone, it does not mean that the nurse is talking to the obstetrician/gynecologist. they are texting or sending it over via type, not voice, in MOST instances........in my opinion.