Authors (including presenting author) :
Au Yeung E
Affiliation :
School of Midwifery, Prince of Wales Hospital
Introduction :
Midwives are “with women,” and provision of continuity of care does not only empower the women in taking care of themselves and their babies, it is also associated with better maternal satisfaction (Aune, Dahlberg, & Ingebrigtsen, 2012). During the COVID pandemic, a hybrid community midwifery program becomes an innovative way which allows the students to extend their care beyond the hospital discharge. As part of midwifery program, each student would approach a postnatal mother under her care and introduced the virtual visit to her. She and her clinical mentor would then perform physical assessments on the mother and newborn dyad in the postnatal ward to ensure that both were well and suitable to be followed up by a student. To protect the patient’s privacy, the virtual visit was conducted at the School of Midwifery, Prince of Wales Hospital where the student, under the supervision of an educator, would meet with the mother at home. Each virtual visit lasted for about 60 minutes. The student and the midwife educator made use of video conferencing to answer any queries from the mother, to assess the mother’s emotional status and well- being, the baby’s general condition, as well as to ensure a safe home environment for the newborn. The student would make a phone call to follow up with the mother in about one month’s time after the virtual visit.
Objectives :
To evaluate the virtual visit by the postnatal mothers through e-satisfaction survey.
Methodology :
A QR code for survey on satisfaction was given to the mother upon the ward visit, and she would be reminded to complete an e-satisfaction survey during phone follow up at Week 4. The survey consists of nine questions on a 6-point Likert scale and two open-ended questions for mothers to express any other opinions.
Result & Outcome :
Virtual visit had been completed by students from 5 class intakes (n= 167) as of March 2023, and a total of 116 mothers had submitted the e-survey (response rate= 69.5%). Regarding the duration and arrangement of virtual visit, ratings of 5.66/6 and 5.52/6 were obtained, respectively. Most mothers reported feeling more confident in newborn care after the visit (5.37/6) and would choose this service again on next pregnancy (5.41/6). For the open comments, many mothers expressed their appreciation for the service during the COVID pandemic, and they praised the students for their patience and professionalism. In particular, the first-time mothers felt being supported and cared for because their worries were addressed promptly. These results were encouraging to the students. The virtual visit has been successful in facilitating the student’s learning while extending the care to the postnatal mothers in an accessible, flexible and cost-effective way.
Aune, I., Dahlberg, U., & Ingebrigtsen, O. (2012). Parents’ experiences of midwifery students providing continuity of care. Midwifery, 28, 432-438.
