Development of a Smart Mobile Data Module for Fetal Monitoring in E-Healthcare

Area of Science:

• Biomedical Engineering
• Digital Health
• Obstetrics

Background:

• Fetal heart rate (FHR) is a critical indicator of fetal well-being.
• Current FHR monitoring methods can be limited in remote accessibility and data integration.

Purpose of the Study:

• To develop a smart mobile data module for remote acquisition and transmission of FHR recordings.
• To create a web-based viewer for accessible FHR data visualization on various devices.
• To integrate FHR data into hospital information systems for secure archiving.

Main Methods:

• Semi-structured interviews with midwives and obstetricians to define user requirements.
• Development of a Raspberry Pi-based mobile data transfer module for FHR signal acquisition.
• Utilizing Wi-Fi or 4G for secure data transmission to a hospital server.
• Creation of an HTML5/JavaScript web viewer for real-time and offline FHR data visualization.
• Proof-of-concept case study with a pregnant patient.

Main Results:

• Successful remote acquisition, transmission, and visualization of FHR data.
• Web viewer displayed FHR recordings in real-time on computers, tablets, and smartphones.
• System demonstrated user-friendliness, rapid, and secure data archiving.
• No perturbation to the hospital network, with no data delay or loss during testing.

Conclusions:

• A novel system for FHR data acquisition, transmission, recording, and visualization has been developed.
• Healthcare professionals can remotely access FHR data, enhancing patient monitoring.
• Integration into hospital information systems ensures optimal and secure long-term data archiving.