Study of Feasibility of Blood Pressure Monitoring in Postpartum Women by Teleconsultation in COVID 19 Pandemic Situation

Abstract

Purpose of the Study To study the feasibility of blood pressure monitoring and to assess the feasibility of antihypertensive dose adjustment in postpartum women by teleconsultation in COVID 19 pandemic situation. Methods This was a descriptive longitudinal study conducted in the Department of OBGY, GMCH, Aurangabad between the study periods November 2020 to April 2021 with a sample size of 60. The feasibility of blood pressure monitoring in postpartum women by teleconsultation was measured by recruitment and retention through 12 weeks postpartum. The feasibility of anti-hypertensive dose adjustment through teleconsultation was measured by the number of women requiring hospital visit for uncontrolled blood pressure or those with warning signs and symptoms. The data were collected and analyzed. Results The feasibility of blood pressure monitoring in postpartum women by teleconsultation was 95.23%. During follow-up, the antihypertensive drug dose was required to be increased in 3 women. Not a single woman required hospital visit or hospital readmission either due to uncontrolled hypertension or warning signs/symptoms. This indicates that the feasibility of anti-hypertensive dose adjustment by teleconsultation was good. Conclusion We demonstrated feasibility and over all good satisfaction rate of Blood Pressure Monitoring in postpartum women by teleconsultation in COVID 19 pandemic situation and found that teleconsultation is a boon in management for postpartum hypertension to reduce readmissions and decrease maternal morbidity while ensuring social distancing and minimizing viral exposure. We recommend teleconsultation as a quality improvement initiative in maternity care.

Postpartum Home Blood Pressure Monitoring

“…Searches for the full review yielded 16,105 records, of which 380 were retrieved and screened in full text. Thirteen studies (in 18 articles [23][24][25][26][27][28][29][30][31][32][33][34][35][36][37][38][39][40] ) pertained to home BP monitoring: three RCTs, two nonrandomized comparative studies, and eight single-arm studies (see Fig. 1 for the literature flow diagram and Appendix 2, available online at http://links.lww.com/AOG/ D229, for design details).…”

“…The studies were published between 2017 and 2022 and included 3,867 participants. [23][24][25][26][27][28][29][30][31][32][33][34][35][36][37][38][39][40] Eleven studies were conducted in the United States, one was conducted in the United Kingdom, and one was conducted in India. The three RCTs had a total of 510 participants, the two nonrandomized comparative studies had 901 participants, and the eight single-arm studies had 2,456 participants.…”

“…Eight studies offered home BP monitoring to all individuals who met specific inclusion criteria (Table 2). 23,[27][28][29]35,36,38,40 Four of the studies described themselves as feasibility studies that assessed the practicality of home BP monitoring in a small group of participants (See Appendix 3, available online at http://links.lww.com/AOG/D229, for a detailed summary of these studies). 23,27,35,38 Among those who chose to participate in feasibility studies of home BP monitoring, 83.3-87.0% reported that they were satisfied with their postpartum care.…”