An interactive web site for research on fetal heart rate monitoring.
BACKGROUND
Traditional methods of exchange of research information may not be rapid enough, especially for international multicenter studies or when discussing controversial issues such as the value of fetal monitoring. The Internet is a useful tool that provides numerous opportunities for immediate communication within a large and diverse community of researchers.


METHODS
A Web site at http://www.sisporto.med.up.pt was developed for a multicenter research project with interlinked pages on automated fetal heart rate (FHR) monitoring. It includes background knowledge about the subject, detailed information about the project, and a few interactive pages. These pages allow online discussions, simulations of data analysis, and download of data for local FHR analysis.


RESULTS
The Web site has been accessed from all over the world. In particular, participating research centers have had easy and fast access to background project information, and a few other clinicians and researchers participated in our online discussions and used the simulation tools or the data provided for analysis of typical FHR patterns.


CONCLUSIONS
Web sites can be useful in multicenter research projects and for scientific information exchange.
Costa Santos
C
C
Department of Biostatistics and Medical Informatics, Faculty of Medicine, University of Oporto, Portugal. csantos@med.up.pt
Ayres de Campos
D
D
da Costa Pereira
A
A
Bernardes
J
J
D005260:Female; D005323:Fetal Monitoring; D014943:Global Health; D006340:Heart Rate, Fetal; D006801:Humans; D020407:Internet; D007400:Interprofessional Relations; D011247:Pregnancy