1. Sudden Shift to Telehealth in COVID-19: A Retrospective Cohort Study of Disparities in Use of Telehealth for Prenatal Care in a Large Midwifery Service.
- Author
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Smith DC, Thumm EB, Anderson J, Kissler K, Reed SM, Centi SM, Staley AW, Hernandez TL, and Barton AJ
- Subjects
- Humans, Female, Retrospective Studies, Pregnancy, Adult, Healthcare Disparities, SARS-CoV-2, Nurse Midwives statistics & numerical data, Cohort Studies, Young Adult, Telemedicine statistics & numerical data, COVID-19 epidemiology, Prenatal Care statistics & numerical data, Midwifery statistics & numerical data
- Abstract
Introduction: The coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) pandemic created disruption in health care delivery, including a sudden transition to telehealth use in mid-March 2020. The purpose of this study was to examine changes in the mode of prenatal care visits and predictors of telehealth use (provider-patient messaging, telephone visits, and video visits) during the COVID-19 pandemic among those receiving care in a large, academic nurse-midwifery service., Methods: We conducted a retrospective cohort study of those enrolled for prenatal care in 2 nurse-midwifery clinics between 2019 and 2021 (n = 3172). Use outcomes included number and type of encounter: in-person and telehealth (primary outcome). Comparisons were made in frequency and types of encounters before and during COVID-19. A negative binomial regression was fit on the outcome of telehealth encounter count, with race/ethnicity, age, language, parity, hypertension, diabetes, and depression as predictors., Results: When comparing pre-COVID-19 (before March 2020) with during COVID-19 (after March 2020), overall encounters increased from 15.9 to 19.5 mean number of encounters per person (P < .001). The increase was driven by telehealth encounters; there were no significant differences for in-person prenatal visit counts before and during the pandemic period. Direct patient-provider messaging was the most common type of telehealth encounter. Predictors of telehealth encounters included English as primary language and diagnoses of diabetes or depression., Discussion: No differences in the frequency of in-person prenatal care visits suggests that telehealth encounters led to more contact with midwives and did not replace in-person encounters. Spanish-speaking patients were least likely to use telehealth-delivered prenatal care during the pandemic; a small, but significant, proportion of patients had no or few telehealth encounters, and a significant proportion had high use of telehealth. Integration of telehealth in future delivery of prenatal care should consider questions of equity, patient and provider satisfaction, access, redundancies, and provider workload., (© 2023 by the American College of Nurse‐Midwives.)
- Published
- 2024
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