AlertWatch, Inc. is an Ann Arbor-based firm that develops and markets clinical decision support systems for hospitals
Maternal monitoring solution focuses on maternal Safety during labor and delivery. (Credit: tasha from Pixabay.)
AlertWatch, Inc., a leading provider of innovative clinical decision support software, announced the commercial launch of its maternal monitoring system, AlertWatch:OB. The FDA 510(k)-cleared software helps clinicians monitor mothers in the labor and delivery unit of the hospital by integrating hundreds of data elements, assessing patient risk in real-time, and by alerting providers using a proprietary maternal early warning score (MEWS) based on national obstetric standards.
“Shockingly, every eight hours in the U.S. a mother dies during childbirth. This rate is three times any other industrialized country,” explained AlertWatch founder and University of Michigan anesthesiologist Dr. Kevin Tremper. “And for every death, there are 70 near misses. Data shows that many of these could have been prevented with a timelier response. Before now, providers haven’t had a tool that gives them the right information in time to intervene.”
To date, AlertWatch:OB has been used to assist with more than 10,000 births. In one recent study, a cross-functional survey revealed that 83% of providers approved of the application. This novel labor and delivery monitoring system is the first solution to integrate several critical features:
1) MEWS alerts with proprietary filtering to reduce nuisance alerts by 95%.
2) Automated risk assessment for each patient using the ACOG hemorrhage risk guidelines.
3) Unit and patient-level dashboards with at-a-glance views across the entire continuity-of-care.
4) Condition and provider-specific escalation pathways for improved response time and collaboration.
“AlertWatch is the only FDA 510(k)-cleared solution focused entirely on monitoring mothers during, before, and after childbirth,” said AlertWatch CEO Justin Adams. “We think AlertWatch:OB will help providers significantly improve maternal safety.”
Source: Company Press Release