Prenatal telemedicine during COVID-19: patterns of use and barriers to access.
JAMIA Open
; 5(1): ooab116, 2022 Apr.
Article
in English
| MEDLINE | ID: covidwho-1666020
ABSTRACT
OBJECTIVE:
To evaluate patient experience with a prenatal telemedicine visit and identify barriers to accessing telemedicine among rural pregnant people in northern New England during the beginning of the COVID-19 pandemic. MATERIALS ANDMETHODS:
We conducted a postvisit electronic survey of pregnant people who successfully participated in a prenatal telemedicine visit at a rural academic medical center in Northern New England. Nineteen questions were included in 5 domains (1) engagement with prenatal care; (2) barriers to telemedicine and in person healthcare; (3) experience of prenatal care; (4) remote pregnancy surveillance tools; and (5) sources of COVID-19 information.RESULTS:
Responses were obtained from 164 pregnant people. Forty percent of participants had participated in an audio-only telemedicine visit, and 60% in a video telemedicine visit. The visit was easy or somewhat easy for 79% of respondents and somewhat difficult or difficult for 6.8%. The most common barrier to accessing telemedicine was poor internet or phone connectivity, followed by childcare responsibilities, lack of equipment, and lack of privacy. Participants also engaged in additional remote prenatal care including phone calls with registered nurses (7.6%), communication with the obstetrics team through a secure health messaging portal (21.1%), and home health monitoring (76.3%). DISCUSSION ANDCONCLUSIONS:
In this survey, evaluating the experience of pregnant people participating in a prenatal telemedicine visit during the COVID-19 pandemic, respondents had a positive experience with telemedicine overall, but also identified significant barriers to participation including issues with connectivity and lack of equipment for the visit. Most participants used telemedicine in combination with other tools for remote self-care.
Full text:
Available
Collection:
International databases
Database:
MEDLINE
Type of study:
Experimental Studies
/
Observational study
Language:
English
Journal:
JAMIA Open
Year:
2022
Document Type:
Article
Affiliation country:
Jamiaopen
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