Implementation of Virtual Antenatal and Postnatal Urgent Midwifery Visits: Evaluation of a Quality Improvement Initiative.

ABSTRACT

Women seeking care during the perinatal period often face delays or long waits at healthcare facilities due to lack of providers and/or resources, leading to sub-optimal outcomes. We implemented a program whereby patients with concerns could receive same-day care virtually from a midwife rather than presenting to the clinic or hospital for care. Implementation strategies included virtual training, a staged increase in patient volume, and frequent communication between the midwives via text, email, and monthly meetings. Virtual visits included a variety of complaints, the five most common being to establish care, first-trimester bleeding, nausea and vomiting, mental health concerns, and postnatal breast problems. There was a threefold increase in virtual visits during the first 6 months with 92% of patients not requiring urgent face-to-face follow-up. Midwives were able to provide high-quality telehealth care that met the patients' needs and decreased the demand on hospital-based services. With the growing ubiquity of mobile phones and internet access, this strategy may be effective in providing quality care while decreasing demands on physical infrastructure. More research is needed to assess acceptability in other contexts. Reproducibility in low-resource settings may be limited if women lack access to video conferencing on phones or laptops.