Pregnancy can cause unprecedented levels of worry and anxiety for women in normal times – one out of every eight women will experience symptoms of postpartum depression, add in a global pandemic and those numbers get even bigger.
Not knowing the effects of COVID-19 on pregnant women just adds to that worry.
The dedicated team of physicians and nurses at Moreland OB-GYN Associates quickly reimagined patient care during the pandemic.
“We couldn’t shut down our clinics or postpone critical visits,” said Dr. Megan Trester. “We had to find a way to safely care for patients and continue prenatal and postnatal care both physically and mentally.”
Moreland OB-GYN clinics continued to safely conduct examinations under new protocols. A focus on more patient education was necessary and the need to allow more time to counsel and provide support was recognized.
That meant adapting appointments to telemedicine when appropriate, which Trester and her team completed in a two-week timeframe. Nearly 80% of all appointments were managed virtually and the remaining were completed in office following all recommended protocols and guidelines. Frequent check-in phone calls were added to postnatal patients to ensure their emotional health didn’t suffer.
“We are going to do whatever it takes to be at our patients’ side—in person or virtually,” said Trester. “Our entire team has put in a tremendous amount of work and we will continue to make it through this together.”
Mallory Luko, RN; Signe Peterson, RN; and Galye Kipp, MA.[/caption]