At Rosenburg Maternal Fetal Clinic, we strive to provide families with the quality care they need. Over the last few decades, telemedicine has started becoming a new avenue for delivering specialized care, as patients all over the country can meet with the doctors they need all from the comfort of their homes. With the addition of telemedicine in today’s maternal-fetal practices, it can be a life-saving resource and the first line of defense against pregnancy complications.
What is Maternal-Fetal Telemedicine?
Telemedicine allows our doctors to deliver healthcare services, such as consultations and health assessments, using digital devices such as telephones, computers, and smartphones. Telehealth allows healthcare doctors to evaluate, diagnose, and treat patients using common technology, removing the need for an in-person visit. In gynecologic and obstetric services, maternal-fetal specialists can use telemedicine to enable earlier follow-up visits, perform risk assessments for high-risk pregnancies, direct patients to other specialists, and provide appointments for evaluating additional scans and interpretations.
For patients, this means that their services can be accessed in real-time, creating a virtual environment that promotes faster diagnosis, easier access to care, and more comprehensive treatment plans. Maternal-Fetal care can be coordinated with both patients and their specialists, allowing patients to speak with their physicians during possible emergency situations, plan ahead for treatments and surgeries, and overall provide better access to care for mothers and families in rural or underdeveloped areas.
The Benefits of Telehealth For Soon-To-Be Mothers
As telemedicine becomes more widespread, medical professionals and patients are now becoming more comfortable connecting virtually. Telemedicine can bridge the gap between maternal-fetal specialists and patients, providing patients with numerous ways that they can take better control over their pregnancy and gain the supportive services they need. While it isn’t meant to take the place of in-person visits, it displays benefits that are undeniable, including:
- Easy Access To Maternal-Fetal Specialists: Many patients can benefit from their networks by gaining better access to their medical care team, including maternal-fetal specialists. When contacting their physicians by virtual means, questions and concerns can be more easily addressed in a more comfortable environment, and depending on the physician’s hours, speak to them day or night.
- Lower Financial Costs of Visits: Even with good health insurance, the financial costs of appointments related to pregnancies can be expensive. Telemedicine appointments help reduce the out-of-pocket expenses associated with in-person appointments, including driving expenses, co-payments, etc.
- Broader Range of Medical Access: Mothers and pregnant women in rural areas and underserved urban areas can get better access to medical care, allowing patients to meet with their doctors quickly under urgent circumstances.
- Reduced Exposure to Disease: For patients with high-risk pregnancies, pathogens and other diseases can easily spread in public practices, and telehealth can reduce that exposure.
- Support for High-Risk Pregnancies: High-risk pregnancies, including patients with chronic conditions, worsening health, and potential emergencies, can receive fast forms of intervention and have life-saving events during their pregnancies.
Telemedicine can help patients cope with challenges such as infertility and high-risk pregnancy by creating a greater point of access to medical support without ever leaving home. For more information, contact your local maternal-fetal clinic to see if they offer telehealth services in your area.
