The Afterbirth of the Electronic Delivery Log
DUHS continues to be a leader in the implementation of the Perinatal Electronic Medical Record (EMR).  The delivery log provides obstetrical caregivers with information to be utilized in a variety of ways.  Historically, the delivery room RN was held responsible for documenting accurate and complete maternal and newborn information.  Information that was manually entered into the log was retrieved from various intrapartum forms.  Information was often illegible and not always entered into the log in a timely fashion leaving the log, incomplete in some cases.
With the evolution of the Perinatal EMR in 2003, we are able to customize an existing form within our Perinatal EMR and create an electronic delivery log to meet the needs of the Health System.  Data are extracted throughout the intrapartum period and populate fields in the log. The platform is an Excel format that readily supports ad-hoc queries.  This enables us to support Health System trend analysis and business practices in both high and low risk settings, the academic medical center setting and the community hospital. The electronic log supports statistical analysis of delivery data such as infection rates, c/s rates as well as departmental and administrative statistics.  In turn, we are able to share statistics with our obstetrical providers including local health departments. Duplicate documentation is eliminated.  Collaborative, interdisciplinary documentation is achieved.
In 2008, we are taking the electronic delivery log to the next step. Log generation is now scheduled at pre-defined intervals to meet the clinical needs at Duke Hospital.  Log distribution is achieved thru a secure protected health information network (PHI).  Distribution takes places via email or hardcopy.  This enhancement increases visibility and utilization of clinical data to support research, business practices and decreases potential for error.