Obstetric Monitoring System with Criticality-Based Patient Prioritization
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Solution Overview
Problem
Current methods for remotely monitoring obstetrics patients during pregnancy and childbirth are inadequate, particularly in areas with scarce qualified personnel, as they lack comprehensive functionality for labor monitoring and assistance.
Innovation Solution
A computer program product and system that concurrently monitors obstetrics patients over a data network, processing maternal physiological and fetal vital sign information to derive criticality levels, and selectively transmits notifications to medical experts, enabling remote monitoring and communication through a graphical user interface.
Engineering Contradictions & Design Principles
Engineering Contradiction Analysis
1Quantity of substance
If a single physician oversees the entire obstetrics ward, then the scarcity of qualified personnel is addressed, but the ability to provide comprehensive monitoring and assistance to multiple patients deteriorates
Solution Approach 1:
The patent introduces a telepresence system with automated monitoring devices, video conferencing capabilities, and electronic health record integration as intermediaries between patients and remote physicians. This allows a single physician to effectively oversee multiple patients by leveraging technological mediators that extend their monitoring and decision-making capabilities across distance and time.
Solution Approach 2:
The system replaces the mechanical limitation of physical presence with electronic and digital systems. Automated sensors, video streaming, and electronic notifications substitute for the need for continuous physical oversight, enabling one physician to manage multiple obstetrics patients remotely without compromising care quality.
2Adaptability or versatility
If remote monitoring tools are used to serve multiple locations, then access to medical expertise is improved, but the functionality for comprehensive labor monitoring deteriorates
Solution Approach 1:
The telepresence system is designed as a multi-functional platform that integrates fetal heart rate monitoring, maternal vital signs tracking, video conferencing, electronic notification, and EHR access into a single unified system. This universal tool enables physicians to perform comprehensive obstetric monitoring and assistance functions remotely, maintaining ease of operation while extending reach to multiple locations.
Solution Approach 2:
The patent combines multiple previously separate functions (automated monitoring, video communication, electronic notifications, and health record management) into an integrated telepresence system. This merging allows the system to provide comprehensive labor monitoring functionality across multiple locations through a single coordinated platform rather than disparate tools.
3Productivity
If automated monitoring systems are implemented, then the coverage of multiple patients is improved, but the precision of criticality assessment deteriorates
Solution Approach 1:
The system incorporates multiple feedback loops including automated sensor data collection, real-time processing of maternal and fetal vital signs, dynamic criticality level calculation, and electronic notifications to physicians. This continuous feedback enables precise criticality assessment across multiple patients by constantly updating monitoring data and adjusting assessments based on changing conditions.
Solution Approach 2:
The system performs preliminary automated analysis of monitoring data to derive criticality levels before physician review. This preliminary action filters and prioritizes patient information, allowing physicians to focus on critical cases while maintaining high measurement precision through automated algorithms that continuously assess multiple parameters simultaneously.
Data Source
AI summary
A system, computer program product and method for facilitating concurrent monitoring of multiple obstetrics patients over a data network are proposed. Data conveying pregnancy progression information, including maternal and fetal vital sign information associated with the obstetrics patients, is received and processed to derive criticality levels for the obstetrics patients. As a first feature, notification data related to a particular obstetrics patient may be selectively transmitted to a medical expert based on different conditions including for example an associated criticality level exceeding a threshold and/or receipt of a consultation request. As a second feature, used together or separately from the first, a graphical user interface (GUI) may present a user with an ordered list of obstetrics patients dynamically adaptable based on the criticality levels. The GUI allows a user to select an obstetrics patient from the list and then adapts the GUI to present an expanded set of pregnancy progression information related to the selected obstetrics patient. Optionally, the GUI may also provide a tool allowing the user to cause a notification to be transmitted to a medical expert over the data network.