Rockford Health System in Rockford, Illinois recently upgraded their Fetal Monitoring equipment with Health Level 7 (HL7)data exchange standards to monitor and record perinatal documentation from its Epic EHR systems. With the HL7-based GE Healthcare Centricity Perinatal Connect, clinicians can now observe data from real-time fetal monitoring strips alongside each patient’s electronic records from one computer screen. The new upgrade also allows for nurses to combine and save documentation from the EHR and the perinatal systems into its Epic patient record.

Prior to the integration and upgrades, clinicians at Rockford Health System had separate locations for their computer-based patient record and fetal monitors. “While admitting a patient in the computer system, the fetal monitor is on the other side of the bed; but now, I can visualize the fetal strip on my screen as I am doing a patient assessment, so if a baby is having any sort of distress on their monitor, I literally see it,” said Angie Asche-Willoughby, RN, Centricity perinatal system manager at Rockford Health System. “But the integration also decreases my time working with technology and charting, and thus increases the time I can spend with my patient. It’s so seamless because anything you document goes into Epic."

According to Asche-Willoughby, the new updates to their Fetal Monitoring Equipment provides increased patient safety by having the fetal strip data be a part of the overall medical record. She adds that the interoperability actually reduces the mother’s anxiety during childbirth:

“This set-up gives a nurse more time with her patient, so the patient isn’t thinking that all the nurse is doing is computer work,” she explained. “It provides a patient with a greater sense of comfort because a nurse is not as worried about her documentation. As a nurse, you don’t want a patient feeling like the only thing a nurse is doing is working on a computer; you want your patient to know you are taking care of her.”

AIV provides an extensive selection of fetal monitoring transducers, accessories, replacement parts, and repair services. To learn more about AIV’s fetal monitoring solutions, visit http://aiv-inc.com/fetal-monitor-transducers.html today.