TEMPLE UNIVERSITY, PENNSYLVANIA, USA. A portable fetal-monitoring package based on a smartphone can provide easier access for pregnant mothers who reside in remote locations and in countries that have limited access to advanced prenatal technologies. This innovation can certainly save the lives of millions of mothers and unborn babies.

The medical and nursing care recommended for women during pregnancy is very important. Prenatal care identifies potential problems in the early stages of pregnancy. Prenatal care provides recommendations about nutrition, exercise, vitamin intake and appropriate specialists that can manage pregnancy related problems. Pregant women who live in areas where medical centers require long journeys are always at risk.

To provide home prenatal scans that are only found in hospitals or medical centers is a great solution to this concern. A team of obstetricians, engineers and computer scientists headed by Dimitrios Mastrogiannis at the Temple University in Pennsylvania developed a system that made use of commercially available sensors that can monitor the fetal heartbeat during pregnancy. It can also monitor the contractions of a mother during labor.

The information gathered is sent via Bluetooth to an Android smartphone. It is processed first by the smartphone before it gets sent to the hospital’s main database using any available connections. Other health measures can be integrated in the system like blood-glucose and maternal oxygen saturation monitors. This innovation can provide affordable and accessible prenatal scans that can keep mothers and babies safe.