New care pathway involving the use of an app for monitoring high blood pressure at home, empowering expectant mothers to be involved in their own care.
New care pathway involving the use of an app for monitoring high blood pressure at home, empowering expectant mothers to be involved in their own care.
Summary:
Home monitoring of hypertension in pregnancy, or HaMpton, is a new care pathway developed by the maternal fetal medicine team at St George’s Hospital, London. This pathway involves the use of an innovative smartphone app for monitoring high blood pressure at home. The app alerts women if they need to attend the hospital, and it also links with a hospital computer system where the data can be monitored by clinicians in real time. HaMpton empowers women to be involved in their own care, reduces the number of hospital visits, and has achieved excellent patient and staff satisfaction.
Challenge/problem identified:
High blood pressure disorders complicate 10% of pregnancies and pre-eclampsia affects between 2% – 8%. Pre-eclampsia can be life threatening for both mother and baby. Standard care pathways for women who have high blood pressure in pregnancy require frequent hospital visits. This has significant cost implications, both to the NHS and to patients, and can cause anxiety to pregnant women.
Impact:
Fellow: Asma Khalil
self-care and education
primary care and urgent care
safety, quality and efficiency within hospitals
self-care and education
earlier intervention and diagnostics
primary care and urgent care
self-care and education