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News — The University of Maryland Medical System (UMMS) has launched NEST (Neonatal Outcomes impacted by Escalation Safety Telemetry), a groundbreaking remote fetal monitoring center that offers continuous, real-time monitoring of critical elements of labor and delivery across System hospitals. NEST is led by a medical director and team of highly specialized nurses who bring more than 200 years of combined experience in safely delivering thousands of babies.

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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.

An important component of NEST is utilizing AI technology developed by Perigen, which organizes incoming data by acuity, allowing the NEST team to monitor any abnormalities in fetal heart rate or uterine contraction patterns in real-time. While the AI tool flags potential issues, the NEST nurses, drawing on their expertise, verify and act upon the information, providing an added layer of oversight and safety for bedside care teams.

(Click for a video introduction to NEST by nurse manager Christina Haas.)

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.”

NEST is the latest innovation in maternal and perinatal care at UMMS hospitals, which collectively are home to one of only two Level IV neonatal intensive care units in the state; two Level III neonatal intensive care units; midwife programs; options in maternal care models including the emerging “Centering” model of group maternal care; and other programs where nurses play vital roles.

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.”

“With the launch of NEST, we are further strengthening the academic standards for safe and equitable care that define our health system,” said Irina Burd, MD, Chief of Women’s Health at the University of Maryland Medical Center, UMMS’ flagship academic hospital, and Professor of Obstetrics, Gynecology, and Reproductive Health at UMSOM. “The rollout of NEST across all our Labor and Delivery units is a remarkable achievement, and I commend our community hospitals and the NEST team for their partnership in making this possible.

Senior leadership also lauded NEST.

"We are absolutely committed to the health of mothers and babies in our Maryland communities. Our NEST program is led by a team of the most experienced labor and delivery nurses, who monitor fetal hearts across the University of Maryland Medical System and directly communicate with labor and delivery teams to ensure the safety of every delivery.  The nurse monitors are supported by an AI-driven real time monitoring system, which is the first on the East Coast and enables our maternal-fetal clinical care teams to go above and beyond to help ensure safer and healthier birth outcomes,” said Mark T. Gladwin, MD, who is the John Z. and Akiko K. Bowers Distinguished Professor and Dean of University of Maryland School of Medicine, and Vice President for Medical Affairs at University of Maryland, Baltimore. "As we continue to evaluate the system for clinical efficiency, standardization of care, and timely intervention, we hope to create a model for other labor and delivery units throughout the country.”

Mohan Suntha, MD, MBA, UMMS President and CEO, stated: “NEST represents a major advancement in maternal-fetal medicine. There are only a handful of remote fetal monitoring centers across the country, and we’re proud to offer this innovative resource to Maryland women giving birth in our hospitals. They are in the best possible hands—supported by an extensive bedside and virtual team that exemplifies UMMS’ commitment to excellence and compassion in care.”

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.