The Ticker Tracker is a simple, reliable, in-home monitoring program that helps to detect worsening health conditions in fragile infants with cardiac conditions. It provides medical staff with evolving patient data which allows early screening of these patients for signs of poor systemic oxygenation, acute dehydration, growth failure and respiratory distress. Early recognition of problematic findings in-turn, allows for early intervention and possible avoidance of serious complications. This program is designed to be used with your health care provider.
Features of the Ticker Tracker include:
• Colourful simple screens for families to enter specific measures of their infant while at home.
• It monitors daily feedings, frequency of output (urination, stooling, vomiting), pulse oximetry, heart rate, normalcy of behavior, ease of breathing and daily weight.
• Cardiology staff at Childrens Hospital of Michigan (CHM), or your institution, are able to view and analyze all infant-specific data a web-based spreadsheet.
• Customised parameters are entered for each infant to allow individualized assessment of progress
• Daily emails are sent to the infants primary cardiology team if breaches in established parameters occur.
• Directions for emergency care "pop-up" if a family enters data that breaches pre-established limits.
• A Family Support Forum is available within the app to allow families to communicate with each other to provide peer support.
• A clinical social worker monitors the Family Support Forum to assess appropriateness of content and to assess the need for professional intervention.
• Educational materials related to both various well-infant care and specific cardiac care are available through a link to the hospitals patient education portal.
The Ticker Tracker was developed at Childrens Hospital of Michigan (CHM), an affiliate of the Detroit Medical Center (DMC), by experts in pediatric cardiology and was supported by a generous grant from the CHM Foundation.