In a busy maternity ward, how can one doctor keep track of 40 soon-to-be mothers, detect dangerous changes in vitals, and intervene immediately?
This was the situation at the Thanthai Periyar Government Headquarters Hospital in the southern Indian state of Tamil Nadu. Many women could go into labour at any moment. But there was only one doctor attending to all the patients, working under pressure on a 24-hour shift, so it was easy to make mistakes.
The problem has opened an opportunity for technology to make an incredible difference by reducing preventable deaths.
The solution came through the WONDER (Women’s Obstetrical Neonatal Death Evaluation & Reduction) Project, spearheaded by Dr. Narmadha Kuppuswami, an Illinois-based Obstetrician and Gynaecologist. She and her team worked with HP’s Global Healthcare Solutions group to develop tools and protocols to reduce maternal mortality.
At the heart of the WONDER Project is an electronic health record (EHR) system featuring a colour-coded vital signs chart. Patients are given a wearable biometric device that checks their pulse, blood pressure, oxygen saturation level and respiratory rate, and automatically updates the WONDER EHR system via Bluetooth.
An application, built by the WONDER team and installed on HP notebooks and tablets, pulls the data directly from the biometric device and transmits it to HP healthcare application displays at the nurses’ stations. This helps them and the doctors quickly identify patients who are at risk of acute complications and respond within the hour.
Ultimately, this technology solution has reinvented healthcare for the overworked medical staff at the Thanthai Periyar and actively helped them save lives.