Integrated Digital Decision-Making Systems in Maternal Nursing and Maternity Care: A Scoping Review

Effective decision-making systems are essential in maternal nursing and maternity care, particularly in situations requiring timely risk assessment, early complication detection, referral, and coordinated clinical action. Integrated digital systems, including electronic records, clinical decision support systems, mHealth applications, digital triage tools, and risk calculators, may support evidence-informed decision-making and improve care processes.

To map evidence on the implementation, outcomes, and barriers of integrated digital decision-making systems in maternal nursing and broader maternity care services.

A scoping review was conducted following the Arksey and O'Malley framework, enhanced by Levac et al, and reported according to PRISMA-ScR. Searches were conducted in PubMed, Scopus, and CINAHL for original research articles published in English or Indonesian between 2011 and 2025. Eligible studies focused on digital or integrated decision-making systems used in maternal nursing or maternity care. Data were extracted using a standardized charting form and synthesized using descriptive qualitative thematic analysis.

Twelve studies met the inclusion criteria. Four themes were identified: impact on protocol adherence and workflow, clinical outcomes and predictive accuracy, patient-centered and psychosocial outcomes, and implementation barriers and sustainability. Several systems were associated with improved protocol adherence, history-taking completeness, triage timeliness, staff confidence, complication detection, patient knowledge, and satisfaction. However, clinical outcomes were mixed. Some tools showed high predictive accuracy or improved detection of complications, but effects on neonatal mortality, unnecessary admissions, transfers, and clinical management were inconsistent. Implementation barriers included limited infrastructure, poor connectivity, software inflexibility, dual documentation, workload burden, low digital literacy, and sustainability challenges.

Integrated digital decision-making systems may support maternal nursing and maternity care by improving care processes and patient-centered outcomes. However, their effects on hard clinical outcomes remain uncertain and depend on infrastructure, workforce readiness, workflow integration, interoperability, and sustained implementation support.