Doctors Use Cell Phones to Watch Patients

Tools

by Fox Charlotte

Story Created: Apr 28, 2011 at 10:51 PM EDT

Story Updated: Apr 29, 2011 at 7:22 AM EDT

CHARLOTTE, N.C. - 32-year-old Megan Torres is hopefully just hours away from giving birth to baby girl number two.  Torres is past her due date and she's checked herself into Presbyterian Hospital  for observation.  "It just makes me feel a lot more safe," she says.

While her nurse is by her side, her doctor's not.  But he can still see her fetal monitor strip!  How?  Where else: his cell phone. Or even an iPad.  "So I don't have to be in the hospital, in the patient's room, and actually see it," says Dr. John Allbert.  He is a maternal fetal medicine specialist. 

Allbert says the technology, called AirStrip, is not meant to decrease doctor/patient face time.  "Like all technology, if used correctly, it can make life better and safer," says Allbert.

It takes some pressure off nurses, too.  Allbert says, "They try to describe what's going on, but you can't see it."

"They don't have to second guess themselves," adds Torres.

Virtually all of the doctors at Presbyterian now have phones that can handle the remote-viewing technology.  It is password protected.  And since the Midtown location delivers about 5,000 babies every year, It helps staff streamline treatment and better coordinate schedules.

Good news for Torres, who says, "I'm not as worried."  She is ready to deliver her baby before the weekend starts and says, "I'm hoping so!"

Presbyterian is the only hospital in our area that uses the AirStrip technology.

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