Neonatal care, an extremely data-intensive activity, now uses physiological monitoring equipment extensively along with Web-based information tools and knowledge sources to collect, display, and analyze data from a number of sources. Although the construction of such databases can be difficult, researchers believe it can provide helpful support to clinical practice including surveillance of infectious diseases and even medical error.

In “Informatics Applications in Neonatology,” an article from the recent release of Medical Informatics in Obstetrics and Gynecology (edited by University of Auckland, New Zealand, professors Dr. David Parry and Dr. Emma Parry) authors Dr. Malcolm Battin, National Women’s Health, Auckland City Hospital, New Zealand, Dr. David Knight, Mater Mother’s Hospital, Brisbane, Australia, and Dr. Carl Kuschel, The Royal Women’s Hospital, Melbourne, Australia outline the potential value of and barriers to the use of an informatics approach to neonatology.

“It is likely that in the future we will see a further expansion of informatics applications so that these become integral to providing care to newborn infants,” write Battin, Knight, and Kuschel. “There is rich potential to both improve the care delivered and make life for the clinician easier. Key areas for development include the refinement of data analysis to produce appropriate outputs that can be utilized to influence clinical decisions and measures that improve patient safety.”

The authors believe that informatics and neonatology already have a close relationship, but in order to see the full benefits of informatics in neonatal care, this relationship needs to be nurtured and the role of new applications in clinical care systems thematically studied.

(Portions of this article are excerpted from Medical Informatics in Obstetrics and Gynecology edited by Dr. David Parry and Dr. Emma Parry.)