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Doctors use smart phones to keep tabs on childbirth

Moms, babies can be monitored remotely

Keely Horton delivered her son, Isaiah Horton, on Wednesday, March 17, at Miami Valley Hospital. Horton's doctor, Andre Harris, monitored the final stages of Horton's pregnancy on his smart phone, the first time Harris had used the new technology. Staff photo by Jim Noelker

Jim Noelker/Staff photographer Keely Horton delivered her son, Isaiah Horton, on Wednesday, March 17, at Miami Valley Hospital. Horton's doctor, Andre Harris, monitored the final stages of Horton's pregnancy on his smart phone, the first time Harris had used the new technology. Staff photo by Jim Noelker

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By Ben Sutherly, Staff Writer Updated 11:21 AM Friday, March 19, 2010

DAYTON — Isaiah Horton’s birth Wednesday, March 17, helped usher in a new digital era in the delivery of babies at Miami Valley Hospital.

Fifty obstetricians who work in the hospital’s labor and delivery unit now can use smart-phone technology to keep tabs on expectant mothers and the vital signs of their unborn children. That’s expected to reduce human error and improve care.

More than half of adverse birth outcomes are related to communication errors among caregivers, said Dr. Cameron Powell, president and chief medical officer of AirStrip Technologies, the San Antonio-based company that developed the AirStrip OB service.

The 50 doctors can securely monitor contractions and fetal heart activity from their smart phones. Previously, they relied on nurses to read data to them over the phone.

Receiving real-time data by iPhone, “I don’t have to interpret what the nurse is saying,” said Dr. Andre Harris, the obstetrician who cared for Horton’s mother, Keely Horton of Dayton. Keely was the first patient Harris had monitored with the new technology.

“Now there’s not a lot of extra weight put on the nurses to be able to describe things to us.”

Harris doesn’t anticipate spending less time with his patients as a result of the new technology. “I don’t think we’re going to cut back on what we do on a normal basis,” he said. “I don’t think there’s going to be a drawback as far as the patient’s concerned.”

The hospital wouldn’t say what it pays for the technology. The company also declined to comment on costs, saying only that revenue in 2009 was six times that in 2008.

The technology, now used by more than 160 hospitals, was first used in the Cleveland Clinic system in 2006.

Kettering Health Network is exploring use of the technology in maternity centers at two of its hospitals, Kettering and Southview medical centers, a KHN spokesman said.

Harris, a technology enthusiast, thinks AirStrip OB is the biggest step in delivering infants since hospitals put wavelength information on hospital computers, which allowed doctors to view real-time data from anywhere in the hospital. Now, he said, such data can be viewed beyond the hospital.

“It was as if I was standing bedside with a patient,” he said.

Contact this reporter at

(937) 225-7457 or bsutherly

@Dayton

DailyNews.com.

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