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Dr Anjali Raj Westwood
York St John University, London, UK
ScientificTracks Abstracts: J Nurs Res Pract
Background: Telehealth is gaining popularity due to the shift in healthcare services due to COVID-19. Maternity is one of the fields that could greatly benefit from continuing this practice. Objective: Explore future pathways for integration of telehealth into maternity practices. Design: Review existing literature on telehealth practices in maternity services and identify possible best practices for post pandemic maternity services. Results: On the topic of telehealth and maternity, Pre-pandemic, 17 papers were found, and during the pandemic, 4 papers were published. The papers investigated a range of outcomes: utilisation of health services, birth outcomes, gestational diabetes, blood pressure, asthma, cost savings, time savings, low and high-risk pregnancies, and breastfeeding. There have been no critical incidents reported. All studies report suggestive benefits. A potential pathway has been suggested by the author for gestational diabetes and blood pressure. Conclusion: Telehealth can be integrated into maternity services to benefit both women and the health services. Working women, women with other responsibilities, geographical isolation financial struggles-all of these can be tackled by integrating telehealth into mainstream maternity care. It is a cost-saver, convenient and can positively impact maternal and infant health outcomes.
Anjali is an Associate Lecturer at York St John University, London. She leads the module on healthcare management and the venture creation lab programme. Anjali completed her PhD from Warwick Medical School. Her research interests are maternity, breastfeeding, infertility, Yoga, infant health, telehealth, and healthcare entrepreneurship. Anjali is an entrepreneur who co-founded a maternity health start-up in India in 2016. Her start-up, ilove9months, offers solutions to women and families across socio-economic groups.
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