| | JULY 20218UTLOOKHealthcare Tech IN MY OPINIONBy Veronica Gillispie-Bell, MD, MAS, FACOG, Section Head, Women's Services, Ochsner HealthTELEMEDICINE FOR OBSTETRIC CARE: A FANTASY OR THE WAVE OF THE FUTURE?The COVID-19 pandemic has forced health systems and providers to reconsider how they deliver routine obstetric care. In an effort to stop the spread of the coronavirus, at the height of the pandemic, providers were encouraged to conduct visits through telemedicine platforms instead of face-to-face. While the benefit of telemedicine to deliver healthcare through a non-traditional method is clear, especially during a pandemic, there are still many unanswered questions, especially in the field of obstetrics. Do patients receive the same quality of care through telemedicine platforms as they receive through face-to-face visits?Telemedicine has the potential to provide great benefits to patients and healthcare providers. The use of telemedicine has demonstrated improvement in outcomes in individuals with complex medical conditions such as coronary artery disease (1) and useful in managing chronic conditions such as hypertension (2). In obstetrics, the use of telemedicine is not a new concept. The Antenatal and Neonatal Guidelines, Education and Learning System (ANGELS) program in Arkansas through the University of Arkansas for Medical Sciences is a system that allows patients to receive high-risk obstetric care through a telemedicine platform. According to their ANGELS 2018-2019 Annual Report, postpartum complications have consistently decreased since the launch of ANGELS in 2003 (3,4). While ANGELS has been beneficial in coordinating and improving the reach of high-risk maternity services, it is not currently utilized for providing routine obstetric care. The convenience of telemedicine should not decrease the quality of care accomplished through traditional care. Traditional obstetric care recommends routine prenatal visits every 4 weeks until 28 weeks, then every 2 weeks until 36 weeks, and then weekly until delivery (5). During these visits, maternal and fetal well-being are assessed. Mothers are usually assessed through monitoring blood pressure, weight and urinary analysis. Fetal well-being is usually assessed through fundal height and fetal heart rate assessment. To achieve the same quality of care, some telehealth systems incorporate digital health kits with scales and blood pressure
< Page 7 | Page 9 >