INEB RECENT PUBLICATIONS: "Impact of the introduction of fetal central monitoring on hospital expenses with cardiotocographic paper"

INEB researchers recently published an article in the Journal of Obstetrics and Gynaecology. The article is available online since January of 2014.

Title: " Impact of the introduction of fetal central monitoring on hospital expenses with cardiotocographic paper"

Authors: Célia Amorim-Costa, Diogo Ayres-de-Campos, Cristina Costa-Santos, João Bernardes

Cardiotocography (CTG) is an exam performed during pregnancy and labor, in order to monitor fetal heart rate and uterine contractions, and it is usually printed in thermal paper. OmniviewSisPorto is a fetal central monitoring system developed by INEB and the Faculty of Medicine, University of Porto, which allows a computerized analysis and digital storage of tracings, thus obviating the need for printing. We aimed at evaluating the impact of the introduction of this system on CTG paper costs in a large university hospital. There was an 87% reduction in median annual expenses with CTG paper in the labor ward (p=0.011) and a 78% decrease in the prenatal clinic (p=0.017), despite a more than 40% increase in the median number of observed women. This may be considered another added value of OmniviewSisPorto system.

FULL ARTICLE: http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/24359058