The perspectives of healthcare professionals in providing care to women with GDM in high-income nations: A qualitative systematic review

Abstract

Background: Gestational Diabetes Mellitus (GDM) represents a growing challenge worldwide, with significant risks to both women and their babies that extend beyond the duration of the pregnancy and immediate post-partum period. Healthcare professionals (HCPs) play important roles in the screening, diagnosis, treatment and management of women with GDM.

Methods: For this qualitative systematic review, a comprehensive search strategy explored the electronic databases Web of Science, CINAHL, Medline, and Scopus, as well as the reference lists of the included papers, for primary studies investigating the experiences, perspectives and practices of HCPs providing care to women with GDM in high-income healthcare settings. Studies were assessed with the Crowe Critical Appraisal Tool, and findings were synthesised using the approach described by Thomas and Harden.

Results: This review included 33 articles - 26 qualitative and seven mixed method studies, representing ten high-income nations. The total number of HCP participants represented across the studies is 989. This figure is constituted by medical professionals (n = 226), nurses and midwives (n = 583), allied health (n = 40) and other or not numerically specified HCPs (n = 140). From 149 findings, four major themes and 10 subthemes were constructed. The four major themes are: multidisciplinary collaboration; healthcare practice; organizational factors; and working with women.

Discussion and conclusion: There are barriers to providing optimal care to women with GDM. Including, time and resource constraints, a lack of consensus in practice guidelines, and variable multidisciplinary collaboration. Moving forward, there needs to be a focus on more explicit guidelines, multidisciplinary collaboration, and appropriate resources to support HCPs in providing care to women to manage the short-term and longer-term risks that are associated with a pregnancy affected by GDM.

Keywords: Gestational diabetes mellitus; Health care professionals; Healthcare provision; Qualitative; Systematic review.