Case Study: IT links mother, baby OB care

An Allentown, Pa.-based hospital has invested in technology designed to integrate medical data gathered on mothers and babies between labor and delivery. The system, developed by McKesson, allows enterprise clinical systems to provide better access to historical patient data. As with other hospitals, the OB system at St. Luke's Hospital is something of an island; it doesn't interact with enterprise clinical systems other than to transmit administrative data. However, officials at the hospital felt that this wasn't enough to protect patient safety. 

The new system combines fetal strip capabilities with components of McKesson's Horizon Clinicals suite, as well as support from McKesson partner LMS Medical Systems, which provides perinatal care and risk reduction tools. These technologies allow the hospital to combine enterprise clinical history and interventions, bar-code medication administration and documentation with the mother's chart. The idea is not only to streamline administration but also to improve patient care, says Beverly Snyder, associate vice president of nursing administration for St. Luke's. The new system not only eliminates duplicate charting, it also makes sure key clinical information is distributed throughout the hospital. It also integrates care; for example, a nurse can administer medications and document care for mother and baby through a single log on.

To learn more about the project:
 - read this Healthcare IT News article

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