Operation definitions and eligibility criteria
| Midwife | A midwife is a person who has successfully completed a midwifery education programme that is duly recognised in the country where it is located and that is based on the ICM Essential Competencies for Basic Midwifery Practice and the framework of the ICM Global Standards for Midwifery Education; who has acquired the requisite qualifications to be registered and/or legally licensed to practice midwifery and use the title ‘midwife’; and who demonstrates competency in the practice of midwifery. The International Confederation of Midwives (ICM)12 | |
| Full scope practice | Full scope midwifery practice includes primary care and reproductive and sexual health, such as prenatal and postpartum care, family planning, abortion, menopause and triage in labour and birth | |
| Telehealth | Telehealth is defined for the subject of this review as patient and provider interacting with synchronous technologies. This modified WHO definition omits asynchronous technologies where health information or patient inquiry is stored than forwarded to a clinician .40 This review’s definition of telehealth confirms technologies such as video conferencing, telephone/audio-only, text, and instant messaging as forms of synchronous telehealth. In published articles, this operational definition of telehealth is often interchangeable with telemedicine40 | |
| Population, Intervention, Comparison, Outcome (PICO)14 | ||
| Criteria | Inclusion | Exclusion |
| Population | Midwives as defined by the International Confederation of Midwives | N/A |
| Intervention | Studies regarding midwives’ consultation from a distance including synchronous telehealth virtual visits, videoconferencing, texting, telephone calling and any technology that permits two-way interaction outside of shared physical space | Asynchronous technology; wearable devices; education and wellness apps, social media, electronic data or electronic health records, no imaging device, no professional development or midwifery education, collection of public health data |
| Comparison | In person care visits, telephone triage or standard of care pre-COVID-19 or post-COVID-19 | N/A |
| Primary outcomes | Experience, views, perception, perspective, perspectives acceptability, unacceptability, satisfaction, dissatisfaction, barriers, adaptability, utilisation, lived experience, favourable, unfavourable, meaningful/unmeaningful, appropriateness/inappropriateness | N/A |
| Type of studies | Quantitative, qualitative or mixed methods studies: RCTs, non-randomized studies of interventions, observational studies (cross-sectional, case–control or cohort studies) non-randomized comparator studies and qualitative studies | Literature reviews, systemic reviews, scoping reviews, historical studies, no quality improvement project or evaluations, discussion papers, case studies, grey literature |
| Setting | No restriction | No restriction |
| Years of publication | 2010–2022 | |
| Publication type | Peer-reviewed/full text available | Conference proceeds, abstracts, book chapters |
| Language | English | Non-English |