SOMANZ Poster Presentation Australasian Diabetes in Pregnancy Society and Society of Obstetric Medicine Australia and New Zealand Joint Scientific Meeting 2025

Patient experiences of Medical Obstetrics at Home care at Northern Health: A qualitative study (#200)

Chamani Kodikara 1 , Eleanor Johnson 1 2 , Rebecca Jessup 1 3 , Vinita Rane 1 2 , Siaw Wong 1 4
  1. Northern Health, Melbourne, VIC, Australia
  2. University of Melbourne, Melbourne, VIC, Australia
  3. LaTrobe University, Melbourne, VIC, Australia
  4. Mercy Hospital for Women, Melbourne, VIC, Australia

Background

The Medical Obstetrics at Home service (MOAH) at Northern Health in Melbourne, Australia is an innovative care model serviced by Midwives and Obstetric Medicine Physicians, providing home visits and telehealth consultations to those with hyperemesis gravidarum and/or hypertensive disorders of pregnancy. This includes advice, prescriptions, and administration of intravenous medications/fluid therapy.

A positive healthcare experience improves engagement and health-seeking behaviour, highlighting the importance of evaluating patient experience1. Perceptions of proposed home-based models of care and telemonitoring in the obstetric population have been studied2,3, however there are no published studies assessing patient experience of a program like MOAH.

Aim and Method

This cross-sectional study aims to understand patient’s experience of MOAH. Semi-structured individual interviews were conducted with a selection of patients who received care through MOAH, and transcriptions were analysed using Braun and Clarke’s (2006) reflexive thematic analysis approach4.

Results and Conclusion

Several themes were identified from the data, including: participants valued the emotional support and advocacy from the MOAH team, felt more comfortable receiving care in the own home, felt the care was consistently high quality and easy to access, and felt the program improved their quality of life and supported them to fulfil other personal and professional duties better. There was a unanimous support for the program to be offered at other health services, to all pregnant patients.

Findings from this study in conjunction with other analyses of health outcomes and economic impact, will inform service optimisation and scalability of the model of care to other maternity hospitals.

  1. 1. Doyle C, Lennox L, Bell D. A systematic review of evidence on the links between patient experience and clinical safety and effectiveness. BMJ open. 2013;3(1).
  2. 2. Exploring Potential Achievements and Barriers to Provide Homecare for Women with Preeclampsia: A Qualitative Study. Fatemeh Mohammadi, Shahnaz Kohan, Mohammadhossein Yarmohammadian, Mitra Savabi-Esfahani, Zahra Rastegari Int J Community Based Nurs Midwifery. 2022 Jan;10(1):30-41
  3. 3. Aasbo G, Staff AC, Blix E, et al. Expectations related to home-based telemonitoring of high-risk pregnancies: A qualitative study addressing healthcare providers' and users' views in Norway. Acta Obstet Gynecol Scand. . 2024;103(2):276-285
  4. Braun V, Clarke V. Using thematic analysis in psychology. Qual Res Psychol. 2006;3(2):77–101.