A group of Mater Researchers have reimagined the traditional model of care for pregnant women who are diagnosed with gestational diabetes mellitus (GDM), saving patients both time and money during their pregnancies.
Up to one in six pregnant women in Australia are diagnosed with GDM, making it the most common medical disorder caused by pregnancy. The Mater Mothers’ Hospital diabetes service cares for approximately 1,200 women each year with this condition.
Study lead author Dr Jo Laurie, who is the Director of Obstetric Medicine at Mater Mothers’ Hospital, said that traditional GDM care imposes a significant financial burden on both women and healthcare systems.
“Traditional GDM models of care require the woman to attend between ten and 15 appointments at the hospital, which for the most part occur during business hours.
“This doesn’t reflect the modern situation for mothers and their employment, domestic and carer commitments,” Dr Laurie said.
The research team decided to look at a model that women could participate in from the privacy of their own home, at a time that suits them.
This led them to look at the development and delivery of education videos alongside the use of the CSIRO ‘M♡THer’ smart phone app/portal and a dramatically reduced schedule of visits.
Dr Laurie said that for women to attend appointments under the traditional model of care, they needed to take time off work, travel to hospital and potentially find care for older children.
“The distinct benefit of digitally based models of care is that a woman may access care that is tailored to her specific language and cultural needs without needing to rearrange her work hours or arrange childcare to attend appointments,” Dr Laurie said.
“Mobile-based healthcare also allows flexibility in frequency of healthcare provision, which may have clinical benefits for individuals.”
This digital trial saved the hospital around $17,000 in total, but the savings to individual patients were more significant, with 1,200 women saving a collective total of $679 872, primarily due to the reduction in face-to-face visits.
Mater Mothers’ Hospital has also recently expanded the digital offering to include private maternity patients.
Associate Professor Shelley Wilkinson said that the digital GDM management strategy has shown substantial time savings compared with a traditional model of care, including a more than six-hour reduction in total medical officer time per week for GDM management.
“Whilst the overall cost savings to health service were modest, they were substantial for individual women,” Associate Professor Wilkinson said.
“We have sought to reimagine GDM care with the woman at the centre of the service redesign.”
Click here to learn more about Mater Research’s Mother and Baby research programs.