Pregnant patients who use a mobile prenatal care app and have fewer in-person clinic visits show no difference in patient or provider satisfaction than those who receive all prenatal care and education in person, according to a study published in JMIR mHealth and uHhealth on May 1.
Researchers from the George Washington University School of Medicine and Health Sciences in Washington, D.C., studied 88 women with low-risk pregnancies at two local outpatient obstetric practices. Forty-one of the women received usual in-office prenatal care, with an average of just over 10 clinic visits each, and the other 47 received a mixture of in-office and in-app care, making an average of fewer than eight in-person visits each.
The latter group used the Babyscripts app, which offered educational content and monitored weight and blood pressure, alerting patients and their providers if hypertension or abnormal weight gain was detected.
According to the study, there was no significant difference in patient or provider satisfaction between the two groups. The results suggest that virtual care is an effective, accessible and low-cost option for low-risk pregnancies.
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