January 13, 2025 | Stephanie Janard
Nurses lead AI-augmented, remote fetal monitoring center; a first-of-its-kind emerging care model on the East Coast that enhances safety and extends specialized nursing into any unit
The NEST team observes the fetal heart rate and uterine contraction patterns of every labor taking place in UMMS hospitals, which annually number around 9,000. These tracings are sourced directly from the monitoring systems within each Labor and Delivery unit and are displayed on a bank of screens at the NEST location in Linthicum, Maryland.
Donna Neale, MD, Maternal and Fetal Medicine specialist at the University of Maryland Capital Region Medical Group in Prince Georges County and medical director of NEST, emphasized the remote hub’s role in advancing UMMS’s commitment to equitable care.
“By integrating our experienced nurses with cutting-edge AI technology, we are setting the highest benchmarks for safety and equity in maternal and fetal health care across our Labor and Delivery units,” said Dr. Neale, who is also an Associate Professor in Obstetrics, Gynecology, and Reproductive Science at the University of Maryland School of Medicine (UMSOM). “Over time, we also hope the data from NEST will contribute to nationwide research aimed at improving perinatal outcomes.”
Peggy Norton-Rosko, DNP, RN, Senior Vice President and Chief Nurse Executive at UMMS, stressed the importance of NEST being a nurse-driven initiative. “Our nurses have been at the forefront of creating this innovative remote monitoring hub, which is elevating the safety and care of every mother and baby across our system,” she said. “NEST is an outstanding example of how nurses are driving innovation and excellence in the field of maternal and fetal care.”
Senior leadership also lauded NEST.
NEST is integrated into every UMMS hospital with a Labor and Delivery unit, which includes the University of Maryland Medical Center’s Downtown campus in Baltimore; University of Maryland St. Joseph Medical Center in Towson (Baltimore County); University of Maryland Charles Regional Medical Center in LaPlata (Charles County); University of Maryland Baltimore-Washington Medical Center in Glen Burnie (Anne Arundel County); University of Maryland Capital Region Health in Largo (Prince George’s County); University of Maryland Upper Chesapeake Medical Center in Bel Air (Harford County) and University of Maryland Shore Medical Center at Easton (Talbot County).
About the University of Maryland Medical System
The University of Maryland Medical System (UMMS) is an academic private health system, focused on delivering compassionate, high quality care and putting discovery and innovation into practice at the bedside. Partnering with the University of Maryland School of Medicine and University of Maryland, Baltimore who educate the state’s future health care professionals, UMMS is an integrated network of care, delivering 25 percent of all hospital care in urban, suburban and rural communities across the state of Maryland. UMMS puts academic medicine within reach through primary and specialty care delivered at 11 hospitals, including the flagship University of Maryland Medical Center, the System’s anchor institution in downtown Baltimore, as well as through a network of University of Maryland Urgent Care centers and more than 150 other locations in 13 counties. For more information, visit www.umms.org.
Contact
Stephanie Janard,
Sr. Media Relations Manager,
University of Maryland Medical Center
Stephanie.Janard@umm.edu
443.607.6937
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