Telemedicine and Digital Health in Maternal and Family Healthcare: Transforming Patient-Centered Care
Authors/Creators
- 1. Department of Medicine, School of Medicine, International University of the Health Sciences, Frigate Bay Basseterre, St. Kitts, West Indies.
- 2. Department of Chemical Sciences, Faculty of Science, Anchor University, Lagos, Nigeria.
- 3. Department of Biochemistry, Faculty of Pure and Applied Sciences, Federal University of Wukari, Wukari Taraba State, Nigeria.
- 4. Department of Graduate Research, Faculty of Medicine, Richmond Gabriel University, St Vincent and the Grenadines.
- 5. Department of Biomedical Technology, Faculty of Basic Medical Scien
Description
ABSTRACT: The use of telemedicine and digital health technologies is a rapidly changing landscape that has transformed the delivery of maternal and family health services, especially since the onset of the COVID-19 pandemic and is supported by the increasing clinical evidence of its benefits, cost-effectiveness, and acceptability to patients. A review of literature published from 2020 to 2025 on the use of telemedicine, mobile health (mHealth), remote monitoring or virtual referral systems for the maternal and family-care continuum (antenatal, postnatal care, postpartum mental health, paediatric follow-up, and primary/family medicine). Three themes are explored in this review, using peer-reviewed evidence from BMC, JMIR, Frontiers, MDPI, Elsevier, and Nature-portfolio journals: (i) Telehealth-delivered antenatal and perinatal care and maternal and neonatal outcomes; (ii) The role of remote monitoring, mHealth applications, and telehealth-delivered postpartum mental health support in extending patient-centred surveillance beyond the clinic; (iii) Equity and access, and Workforce-competency considerations that can drive either an expansion or narrowing of disparities in family and primary care. The evidence suggests that telemedicine can contribute to a reduction in missed antenatal visits, the timely referral of mothers in low-resource areas, extend mental health services to postpartum women, and enhance access to family and primary care, but may also risk worsening existing disparities when issues of broadband connectivity, digital literacy, and reimbursement are not addressed. Three comparative tables summarise antenatal/perinatal telehealth outcomes studies, remote-monitoring and mHealth interventions, and equity/family-medicine telehealth evidence; and three authors’ conceptual figures are suggested to visualise the maternal-family telehealth care continuum, the remote antenatal monitoring and escalation pathway, and a digital health equity framework. The review also finds that deliberate investment in connectivity, maternal and family telehealth competencies among the healthcare workforce, and reimbursement policy is needed to achieve patient-centred, equitable maternal and family telehealth, with ongoing clinical evaluation.
Keywords: Telemedicine, Digital health, Maternal health, Family medicine, mHealth, Telehealth equity, Patient-centred care.