Runkle Jennifer, Sugg Maggie, Boase Danielle, Galvin Shelley L, C Coulson Carol
North Carolina Institute for Climate Studies, North Carolina State University, USA.
Department of Geography and Planning, Appalachian State University, USA.
Digit Health. 2019 Feb 6;5:2055207619828220. doi: 10.1177/2055207619828220. eCollection 2019 Jan-Dec.
Wearable sensors and other smart technology may be especially beneficial in providing remote monitoring of sub-clinical changes in pregnancy health status. Yet, limited research has examined perceptions among pregnant patients and providers in incorporating smart technology into their daily routine and clinical practice.
The purpose of this study was to examine the perceptions of pregnant women and their providers at a rural health clinic on the use of wearable technology to monitor health and environmental exposures during pregnancy.
An anonymous 21-item e-survey was administered to family medicine or obstetrics and gynecology (=28) providers at a rural health clinic; while a 21-item paper survey was administered to pregnant women (=103) attending the clinic for prenatal care.
Smartphone and digital technology use was high among patients and providers. Patients would consider wearing a mobile sensor during pregnancy, reported no privacy concerns, and felt comfortable sharing information from these devices with their physician. About seven out of 10 women expressed willingness to change their behavior during pregnancy in response to receiving personalized recommendations from a smartphone. While most providers did not currently use smart technologies in their medical practice, about half felt it will be used more often in the future to diagnose and remotely monitor patients. Patients ranked fetal heart rate and blood pressure as their top preference for health monitoring compared to physicians who ranked blood pressure and blood glucose. Patients and providers demonstrated similar preferences for environmental monitoring, but patients as a whole expressed more interests in tracking environmental measures compared to their providers.
Patients and providers responded positively to the use of wearable sensor technology in prenatal care. More research is needed to understand what factors might motivate provider use and implementation of wearable technology to improve the delivery of prenatal care.
可穿戴传感器和其他智能技术在远程监测孕期健康状况的亚临床变化方面可能特别有益。然而，关于将智能技术融入日常和临床实践中，孕妇患者和医疗服务提供者的看法的研究有限。
本研究的目的是调查农村健康诊所的孕妇及其医疗服务提供者对使用可穿戴技术监测孕期健康和环境暴露的看法。
对农村健康诊所的家庭医学或妇产科医生（n = 28）进行了一项21项的匿名电子调查；同时，对前来诊所进行产前检查的孕妇（n = 103）进行了一项21项的纸质调查。
患者和医疗服务提供者对智能手机和数字技术的使用率很高。患者会考虑在孕期佩戴移动传感器，报告没有隐私担忧，并愿意与医生分享这些设备中的信息。十分之七左右的女性表示，愿意在孕期根据智能手机收到的个性化建议改变自己的行为。虽然大多数医疗服务提供者目前在医疗实践中未使用智能技术，但约有一半的人认为未来会更频繁地使用智能技术来诊断和远程监测患者。与医生将血压和血糖列为首选相比，患者将胎儿心率和血压列为健康监测的首选。患者和医疗服务提供者对环境监测的偏好相似，但总体而言，患者比医疗服务提供者对跟踪环境指标更感兴趣。
患者和医疗服务提供者对在产前护理中使用可穿戴传感器技术持积极态度。需要更多研究来了解哪些因素可能促使医疗服务提供者使用和实施可穿戴技术，以改善产前护理服务。
