The e-Babies Project: Integrated Data Monitoring and Decision Making in Neo-Natal Intensive Care

Approximately 5% of newborn babies in Australia require intensive care admission after birth Many of these babies are very premature and suffer severe illness. Of those babies admitted 11% will die. Those who survive may have significant life long disability such as cerebral palsy, mental retardation and blindness. Nepean hospital located west of Sydney is one of eight tertiary neo-natal referral centers in the state of New South Wales. Tertiary neo-natal referral centers care of critically ill pre-term newborns. The Nepean center typically handles 700 babies annually. Several electronic instruments monitor baby’s vital signs such as blood oxygen, blood pressure and heart rate. A major limitation in clinical management is that these monitors are not linked to provide an integrated picture of the baby’s condition. This paper will describe the authors work on the “e-babies” project. The core objective of this project is to integrate this physiological data obtained from the monitors with a clinical database and provide tools for the analysis of this data.