Feasibility of a Telemonitoring Program for Pregnant Women at High-Risk for Preeclampsia in Pakistan

Plain-language summary

High maternal mortality from preeclampsia/eclampsia results from a lack of early identification and management of pregnant women at high risk for preeclampsia. A potential tool to support pregnant women at high risk for preeclampsia is telemonitoring. Most telemonitoring interventions have been implemented in high-income countries and thus there is limited evidence on the use and effectiveness of telemonitoring for pregnant women in low-middle-income countries (LMICs). The scarce evidence on the feasibility of telemonitoring program implementation limits the understanding of the process and mechanisms through which the intervention works in LMICs. The study will explore the feasibility of implementing a mobile phone-based telemonitoring program for pregnant women at high-risk for preeclampsia in Karachi, Pakistan. The study will be conducted at the Jinnah Post Graduate Medical Center in Karachi, Pakistan. The study will use a mixed-methods design to recruit 50 pregnant women at high risk for preeclampsia to assess clinical feasibility across the five foci of Bowen's framework including acceptability, demand, implementation, practicality, and limited-efficacy testing. Data sources will include semi-structured interviews with the patients, and clinicians, as well as data from paper medical records, research logs, and server data. The results of the quantitative and qualitative data will be analyzed separately and then integrated at the interpretation and reporting levels to advance our understanding of the telemonitoring program's feasibility. This will be the first study to provide evidence on the feasibility of using a telemonitoring program where pregnant women at high-risk for preeclampsia in Pakistan will take their own blood pressure readings at home.

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