Évaluation de l’impact des services en téléobstétrique du RUIS McGill offerts à une population de femmes inuites avec grossesse à risque élevé habitant sur la côte de la baie d’Hudson au Nunavik
Health care accessibility to the population located in a remote region of Quebec represents a challenge for the Ministère de la santé et des services sociaux. Solution such as telemedicine has been used to mitigate this issue. Therefore RUIS McGill has developed a teleobstetric program helping Inuit women in Nunavik with their risky pregnancy. This thesis’s objective is to understand the impact of the RUIS McGill teleobstetric program on the mother and her new born health plus the cost and utilization of health services following its implementation in the Inuulitsivik Health & and Social Services Centre located on Hudson Bay Shore. Inuit women at high risk pregnancy and their children in the region of Nunavik's Hudson Bay, who are far away from specialist in obstetric, are targeted. The teleobstetric program provides access to the RUIS McGill obstetricians located in Montreal. A quasi- experimental design was used to examine three hypotheses about the mothers and their children health, the use of health services and their costs. The teleobstetric program became operational in 2006, providing the ability to be a before-after study with two groups of women, those who delivered before 2012 (pre-test) and those who delivered after 2006 (post-test). The data collection took place, in its entirety, through paper medical records of the participants allowing the analysis of 47 cases for the pre-test and 81 cases for the post-test. Variance and covariance’s analysis, logistical regression and the non-parametric Mann-Witney test has allowed to conclude that the pre-test and post-test are different for only two variables which is the weight at birth, lower in the post-test and for the blood pressure of the mother at birth, higher in the post-test. For all other variables based on the three hypothesis of this thesis, results show no significate difference between pre-test and post-test, illustrating that the same level of quality has been conserved after the implementation of the teleobstetric program. Based on results, this thesis recommends reviewing and modifying the program’s objectives; sharing telehealth communication terminals with other specialties; undertaking an assessment of the cost-based program; strictly monitor the use of the program to maximize efficiency and potential; establishing a dashboard; and undertaking a comparative evaluation study in a comparable teleobstetric service.
Nunavik Program evaluation High-risk pregnancy Inuit nation Teleobstetric Telemedicine Health administration Region Northern Quebec Healthcare