Telehealth may seem an insufficiently personal medium through which to deliver healthcare in an area as personal as obstetrics, but new research from George Washington University suggests that need not be the case.

The study conducted a comprehensive review of studies on telehealth interventions across family planning, obstetrics and gynecologic conditions, and found that those patients seen via telehealth platforms often had better outcomes.

The paper describes how there were some 2,000 obstetric mobile phone apps on the market by 2014, but the evidence base behind these apps was usually lagging a long way behind.

“Establishing evidence-based practices in this emerging dimension of health care delivery is important to mitigate potential health risks and costs that could be associated with rapid adoption of new technologies that have not been adequately studied,” the researchers explain. “It would also be helpful for overcoming barriers to adoption of clearly beneficial technologic advances.”

Evidence-based practice

As a result of the literature review, a number of important themes emerged on how best to use telehealth in areas such as obstetrics and gynecology.  The first was that text messaging, whilst low tech, was a useful intervention, especially in areas such as smoking cessation during pregnancy, contraception adherence and consistency in breastfeeding.

The second major trend was how valuable telehealth was in terms of delivering remote monitoring and virtual visits in environments where coverage is sparse and in-person visits are challenging.

“This review highlights the gap in knowledge of telehealth-mediated interventions in women’s health care,” the researchers explain. “While patients and many providers are excited about these tools, we still know very little about their effectiveness.”

As the technology, and its application, is still relatively new, it’s clear that more research is needed to gather the evidence we can use to drive clinical practice.  It’s equally clear, however, that such evidence is slowly being accumulated.