Patient Perceptions, Opinions and Satisfaction of Telehealth With Remote Blood Pressure Monitoring Postpartum

Abstract Background: We conducted a post participation process evaluation of participant experiences with in-home remote patient monitoring via telehealth for blood pressure monitoring of women with postpartum hypertension. In collaboration with expert opinion, we developed a self-administered questionnaire to investigate patient factors we hypothesized to be relevant influencing participant perceptions. Factors included type of hypertension, medication, maternal demographics, and infant discharge rates. Methods: This analysis was a planned secondary analysis of a non-randomized controlled trial of telehealth with remote blood pressure patient monitoring for postpartum hypertension compared to standard outpatient monitoring in women with a hypertension-related diagnosis during pregnancy. In collaboration with survey experts, we developed a 41-item web-based survey to assess 1) perception of quality of care received, 2) ease of use/ease to learn the telehealth program, 3) effective orientation of equipment, 4) level of perceived security/privacy utilizing telehealth and 5) problems encountered. The survey included multiple question formats including Likert scale responses, dichotomous Yes/No responses, and free text. We performed a descriptive analysis on all responses and then performed regression analysis on a subset of questions most relevant to the domains of interest. The qualitative data collected through open ended responses was analyzed to determine relevant categories. Study participants received the survey at the 6-week study endpoint. Results: 60% of participants completed the survey. The majority of women found the technology fit easily into their lifestyle. Privacy concerns were minimal and factors that influenced this included age, BMI, marital status, and readmissions. 95% of women preferred remote care for postpartum follow-up, in which hypertensive type, medication use and ethnicity were found to be significant factors in influencing location of follow-up. Most women were satisfied with the devices, but rates varied by hypertensive type, infant discharge rates and BMI. Conclusions: Postpartum women perceived the telehealth remote intervention was a safe, easy to use method that represented an acceptable burden of care and an overall satisfying method for postpartum blood pressure monitoring. Trial registration: ClinicalTrials.gov identification number: NCT03111095, Date of registration: April 12, 2017.