We are excited to release a patient-controlled pregnancy record called ‘MiApp.’ We created this with the Perinatal Institute. E-health Insider covered it and if you would like to use MiApp with your maternity unit please contact us.
Maternity was the pioneer speciality for putting patients in control of their records: in the UK it is the mother who has the master record of the pregnancy, paper notes she brings to appointments, and the midwives and doctors write in the mother’s notes. The speciality has shown that patient control is a clinical decision, not a technology one. They did this with paper long before electronic personal health records.
Last year, 60% of children born in England had their records in paper notes created by the Perinatal Institute (PI). When we first started working together, the PKB team loved the ethos of the PI team. Not only did their paper notes embody patient control, they also provided education – every page of the notes had another page with plain English translation of medical terms – and set expectations – the explanations told the mother what should be happening when, allowing the mother to ask why she had not received the care according to the national standard. These principles came from the founding mission of PI: to create good medical records that reduce maternal and infant mortality.
Maternity units across the UK can now use MiApp. The mother’s smartphone version allows her to share her pregnancy records with the rest of her healthcare team and family. It even works offline so she can have her full record with her at all times. The tablet version for midwives will also work offline, so the midwife can bring all their records to appointments. It will save a midwife’s time by speeding up data entry compared to paper forms and it will eliminate the need to double enter as data from the hospital laboratory system will flow automatically into the record.
Professor Jason Gardosi, director of the Perinatal Institute said:
We chose to work with Patients Know Best because they, like us, understand the benefits of putting the patient in control of their own medical records. Our research tells us that standards of maternity care improve across the board when the mother controls her own records and when she is better engaged and informed about her own pregnancy. Mothers controlling their own notes leads to complete inter-operability in that all care providers are able to access the up to date master copy of the care record. An electronic notes system that’s patient-controlled is the logical extension of the same principle, and will allow the mother and her care providers to access her files anywhere in the world – avoiding the need for inefficient double entry by busy health care providers, and reducing potential errors, thereby improving safety and quality of care.
The full press release and E-health Insider article are below.
Perinatal Institute Pregnancy record system set to go online through partnership with Patients Know Best
The Perinatal Institute, the leading provider of maternity notes to the NHS, today announces plans to launch ‘MiApp’, a patient-controlled pregnancy record based on Patients Know Best, the world’s only fully-patient controlled online medical records system.
‘MiApp’ will be announced today at the 2014 National Conference of the Royal College of Midwives by Professor Jason Gardosi, director of the Perinatal Institute.
The Perinatal Institute’s hand held, paper-based maternity notes – used in 60% of maternity units in England – will also be available as an online version with patient data stored through Patients Know Best’s highly secure system. Currently, maternity is the only clinical area that commonly gives the patient ownership and control of their medical records.
At the start of their pregnancies, mothers will have the choice of being given their pregnancy records as a paper booklet – or through an ‘app’ on their smartphone, tablet or laptop. The app would allow mother to share her pregnancy records with GPs, other clinicians or family members – ensuring that every midwife, doctor or other health professional looking after her has a single view of her medical history. In parallel, midwives will be given a tablet ‘app’ replacing the paper-based forms they would normally use.
Professor Jason Gardosi, director of the Perinatal Institute said:
“We chose to work with Patients Know Best because they, like us, understand the benefits of putting the patient in control of their own medical records. Our research tells us that standards of maternity care improve across the board when the mother controls her own records and when she is better engaged and informed about her own pregnancy. Mothers controlling their own notes leads to complete inter-operability in that all care providers are able to access the up to date master copy of the care record. An electronic notes system that’s patient-controlled is the logical extension of the same principle, and will allow the mother and her care providers to access her files anywhere in the world – avoiding the need for inefficient double entry by busy health care providers, and reducing potential errors, thereby improving safety and quality of care.”
Dr Mohammad Al-Ubaydli, founder and CEO of Patients Know Best said:
“In ten years, The Perinatal Institute has revolutionised the way pregnancy information is recorded and managed. Huge numbers of maternity units have adopted their system because they can see the direct benefit to patient care. Our partnership will continue to give mum full control of her records but with the added advantages of digital technology, including fast access, easy sharing and enhanced education while supporting real-time research to improve patient care. We are proud to be working with the Perinatal Institute in what is a ground- breaking venture towards better patient care and management.”
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Notes to editors
About the Perinatal Institute
The Perinatal Institute is a national not-for-profit organisation set up to enhance the safety and quality of maternity care. It is a qualified provider of maternity support services, including education and training in standardised maternity records, fetal growth assessment and perinatal audit. Founded by Jason Gardosi, an obstetrician and professor of maternal and perinatal health, the Perinatal Institute has won several health service awards including National Patient Safety Awards in 2013 and 2014 for their fetal growth training programme which now extends to the majority of NHS Trusts and has led to the recent significant reduction in stillbirth rates in England. The Institute is also conducting and supporting a number of projects internationally which aim to enhance safety in maternity care. www.perinatal.org.uk
About Patients Know Best
Patients Know Best is the world’s first patient-controlled medical records system. It is a fully secure online tool which enables patients to better organise, manage and control their own health care provision – it also saves the time of physicians through allowing secure, online consultations. Founded by Dr. Mohammad Al-Ubaydli, a physician, programmer and expert in IT in healthcare, Patients Know Best has won social enterprise awards for its focus on patient care. Patients Know Best’s first customers include Great Ormond Street Hospital, St Mark’s Hospital and NHS South Devon. Patients Know Best integrates fully into the NHS secure network and is available for use by any patient with any clinician anywhere in the world. It is now used by over 30 hospitals in the UK, Ireland, USA, Holland, Belgium, Australia and Hong Kong. Patients Know Best complies fully with UK NHS and data protection requirements as well as the EU data protection act and US HIPAA legislation for dealing with medical data. www.patientsknowbest.com
Contact
Chris Smith, Swarm Communications.
+44 (0) 7989 321 743
Perinatal Institute launches MiApp
21 November 2014 Sam Sachdeva
The Perinatal Institute is piloting an online pregnancy record to give women improved access to maternity information and allow them to share their record with others.
The patient-controlled pregnancy record, MiApp, is based on work with Patients Know Best, which provides patient-controlled online medical records systems.
The online record is intended to replace the institute’s patient-held, paper-based maternity notes, which are currently used in 60% of English maternity units.
At the start of their pregnancies, mothers will be given the option of accessing their maternity records through an app on their smartphone, tablet or laptop.
They will be able to share the records with GPs, other clinicians or family members, ensuring that there is a single view of their medical history.
Jason Gardosi, director of the Perinatal Institute, told EHI the organisation wanted to replicate the patient-controlled nature of their paper notes while making better use of technology.
“We felt it makes sense now to move into the 21st century and make the record electronic so we can have the same content constantly updated while fitting with national guidelines.”
Gardosi said the electronic record will save midwives time by removing the need for duplication when entering information into paper notes.
“This sort of link-up is important for saving midwifery time, because they can spend a lot of their time entering in information two to three times when they’re filling out forms.”
The electronic record will allow maternity departments to ensure pregnant women still have access to information about their care and are engaged with clinicians, while making greater use of new IT systems, he said.
“As maternity systems are put into place around the country, what is happening is that the record in essence is being taken away from the mother, and the primary record then becomes part of the hospital-based system.
“Midwives might have access to it in the community, if they’re lucky; but the mother is left with nothing.”
Dr Mohammad Al-Ubaydli, founder and chief executive of Patients Know Best, told EHI that moving to an online record will ensure all patients and care professionals have access to the same integrated record.
Al-Ubaydli said structured data from hospital systems, such as blood test results, will flow automatically into the record. Mothers will also be able to connect their own devices at home, such as a glucose monitor or scales, and feed the information into the record.
Patients Know Best is also developing a tablet app for midwives with electronic forms replacing the paper-based documents they currently use, he said.
Al-Ubaydli said the company is also working with the creators of eRedbook, the digital version of the ‘red book’ given to parents and carers at a child’s birth recently endorsed by the Royal College of Paediatrics and Child Health, to avoid duplication of effort and work on sharing information across the two platforms.
The pregnancy record is currently being piloted at two sites, and will be made available more widely after the pilots are completed in April next year.
Patients Know Best has also announced that it has secured another $1.7m of investment. The money will come from venture capital fund Maxfield Capital, and will enable it to develop its product further and hire additional clinical staff.
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