Pregnant women should not have direct contact with individuals with COVID-19, or those suspected to have it, according to current guidelines from the United States Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. “This can be important not only during social distancing, but also outside of the pandemic for people who would like extra support.” The team is also working through creating additional resources for prenatal care, such as a program to get more women access to at home monitoring devices. We are setting up online groups where patients can be peer mentors and share their lived experience,” Peahl says. “COVID-19 has prompted us to get creative in how we support pregnant patients. “I want to offer reassurance for women that this can be helpful but, for a low risk or uncomplicated pregnancy, it’s not needed,” she says. Women with low risk pregnancies shouldn’t worry about home monitoring, says Peahl. “I want our patients to know these models have been used in other top tier medical centers, and providers are achieving all of the recommended care, even with scaling back in-person visits.”įor example, the revised schedule means that rather than being done in separate visits, the gestational diabetes screening and the Tdap vaccine can be given at one time, reducing patients’ exposure. “I'm hearing a lot of panic and worry that women coming in for reduced in-person care is not a safe model,” says Peahl. If the patient has home doppler devices, blood pressure cuffs and scales, the practitioners are asking them to use their equipment to monitor their pregnancy in conjunction with their virtual visits.Īs always, the women are asked to call their providers if anything feels off or if they have questions. All labs will be conducted during these visits, rather than in a separate appointment as is sometimes done.Īdditional prenatal visits will be conducted through telemedicine platforms such as e-visits or video visits. Specifically, because of COVID-19, in-person prenatal care at Michigan Medicine has now been reduced to an initial prenatal visit, an anatomy ultrasound, and the 28-, 36-, and 39-week visits. “We have three key recommendations for patients receiving routine prenatal care: Limit clinic visits to those that require in-person services (like ultrasounds and lab tests) encourage virtual visits for care that can be done remotely provide support to pregnant women creatively,” says Michigan Medicine obstetrician, gynecologist and researcher Alex Peahl, M.D. In the wake of the rapidly evolving COVID-19 pandemic, providers at Michigan Medicine have started a new approach to prenatal care - one that prior research indicates may be right for low risk pregnancies even after the pandemic ends. Education, Training & Faculty Development.National Clinician Scholars Program at IHPI.
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