Improving Critical Value Notification through Secure Text Messaging
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ABSTRACT:
SUBMITTER: Lynn T
PROVIDER: S-EPMC7518196 | biostudies-literature | 2020 Jan
REPOSITORIES: biostudies-literature
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Project description:BackgroundThough current hospital paging systems are neither efficient (callbacks disrupt workflow), nor secure (pagers are not Health Insurance Portability and Accountability Act [HIPAA]-compliant), they are routinely used to communicate patient information. Smartphone-based text messaging is a potentially more convenient and efficient mobile alternative; however, commercial cellular networks are also not secure.ObjectiveTo determine if augmenting one-way pagers with Medigram, a secure, HIPAA-compliant group messaging (HCGM) application for smartphones, could improve hospital team communication.DesignEight-week prospective, cluster-randomized, controlled trialSettingStanford HospitalInterventionThree inpatient medicine teams used the HCGM application in addition to paging, while two inpatient medicine teams used paging only for intra-team communication.MeasurementsBaseline and post-study surveys were collected from 22 control and 41 HCGM team members.ResultsWhen compared with paging, HCGM was rated significantly (P < 0.05) more effective in: (1) allowing users to communicate thoughts clearly (P = 0.010) and efficiently (P = 0.009) and (2) integrating into workflow during rounds (P = 0.018) and patient discharge (P = 0.012). Overall satisfaction with HCGM was significantly higher (P = 0.003). 85% of HCGM team respondents said they would recommend using an HCGM system on the wards.ConclusionsSmartphone-based, HIPAA-compliant group messaging applications improve provider perception of in-hospital communication, while providing the information security that paging and commercial cellular networks do not.
| S-EPMC4263157 | biostudies-literature
Project description:IntroductionLow vaccine coverage is a major public health concern, the consequences of which contribute to around 1.5 million child deaths from vaccine-preventable diseases. Thus, innovative strategies to rapidly increase coverage and recall rates for vaccinations are urgently required. Mobile text messaging (or short messaging service, SMS) has the potential to help increase vaccination coverage and therefore we propose to conduct a review of the current best evidence for the use of SMS as an intervention to promote vaccination coverage.Methods and analysisThis article describes the protocol for a systematic review of the effectiveness of SMS in improving the uptake of vaccination. Primary and secondary outcomes of interest are prespecified. We will preferably include randomised controlled trials (RCTs). However, non-randomised studies (NRS) will be considered if there is an inadequate number of RCTs. We will search several bibliographic databases (eg,PubMed, EMBASE, CINAHL, CENTRAL, Science Citation Index, Africa-Wide Information and WHOLIS electronic databases and search sources for grey literature. Following data extraction and assessment of risk of bias, we will meta-analyse studies and conduct subgroup analyses, according to intervention subtypes. We will assess clinical heterogeneity and statistical heterogeneity. For outcomes without quantitative data, a descriptive analysis will be used. This review protocol is registered in the PROSPERO International Prospective Register of systematic reviews, registration number 2014:CRD42014007531 ETHICS AND DISSEMINATION: Ethics is not required for this study, given that this is a protocol for a systematic review, which uses published data. The findings of this study will be disseminated through peer-reviewed publications and conference presentations. We anticipate that the results could be used by researchers and policymakers to help inform them of the efficacy of mobile phone text messaging interventions to promote increased vaccination coverage.Trial registration numberPROSPERO registration number 2014:CRD42014007531.
| S-EPMC4127915 | biostudies-literature
Project description:BACKGROUND:Nonadherence is a major concern in the management of chronic conditions such as hypertension, cardiovascular disease, and diabetes where patients may discontinue or interrupt their medication for a variety of reasons. Text message reminders have been used to improve adherence. However, few programs or studies have explored the benefits of text messaging with older populations and at scale. In this paper, we present a program design using tailored and interactive text messaging to improve refill rates of partially adherent or nonadherent Medicare members of a large integrated health plan. OBJECTIVE:The aim of this 3-month program was to gain an understanding of whether tailored interactive text message dialogues could be used to improve medication refills in Medicare patients with one or more chronic diseases. METHODS:We used the mPulse Mobile interactive text messaging solution with partially adherent and nonadherent Medicare patients (ie, over age 65 years or younger with disabilities) of Kaiser Permanente Southern California (KP), a large integrated health plan, and compared refill rates of the text messaging group (n=12,272) to a group of partially adherent or nonadherent Medicare patients at KP who did not receive text messages (nontext messaging group, n=76,068). Both groups were exposed to other forms of refill and adherence outreach including phone calls, secure emails, and robo-calls from December 2016 to February 2017. RESULTS:The text messaging group and nontext messaging group were compared using an independent samples t test to test difference in group average of refill rates. There was a significant difference in medication refill rates between the 2 groups, with a 14.07 percentage points higher refill rate in the text messaging group (P<.001). CONCLUSIONS:The results showed a strong benefit of using this text messaging solution to improve medication refill rates among Medicare patients. These findings also support using interactive text messaging as a cost-effective, convenient, and user-friendly solution for patient engagement. Program outcomes and insights can be used to enhance the design of future text-based solutions to improve health outcomes and promote adherence and long-term behavior change.
| S-EPMC5811648 | biostudies-literature
Project description:BackgroundSigning Deaf South Africans have limited access to health information and, consequently, limited knowledge about health. Maternal and neonatal mortality rates are high. Cell phone use is high, making it a potentially effective way of communicating about maternal and child health.ObjectiveThe primary aim of this study was to assess whether an SMS text messaging-based health information campaign could improve knowledge about pregnancy, antenatal care, and healthy living during pregnancy for signing Deaf South African women of reproductive age. The secondary aim was to evaluate the acceptability of such an intervention.MethodsThis study was designed as a pretest-posttest study. A baseline questionnaire assessed participants' knowledge about pregnancy, antenatal care, and healthy living during pregnancy before an SMS text messaging-based information campaign was conducted. After the campaign, an exit questionnaire was administered containing the same questions as the baseline questionnaire with additional questions on general acceptability and communication preferences. The results were compared between baseline and exit using the McNemar and Wilcoxon signed rank tests. A focus group aimed to obtain further information on the impact and acceptability of SMS text messages. The focus group was analyzed inductively.ResultsThe study showed a statistically significant improvement in overall health knowledge among participants. Despite this, some participants found the medical terminology challenging to understand. Several ways of improving SMS text messaging campaigns for the Deaf were identified, including using Multimedia Messaging Services with a person signing messages and linking information campaigns to a communication service that would enable Deaf people to pose questions. The focus group also suggested that SMS text messages might play a role in motivating healthy behaviors during pregnancy.ConclusionsThe SMS text messaging campaign effectively improved Deaf women's knowledge about pregnancy, antenatal care, and healthy living during pregnancy and has the potential to affect health behavior. This contrasts with a similar study on hearing pregnant women. This suggests that SMS text messages may be particularly effective in improving Deaf people's health knowledge. However, attention should be paid to Deaf participants' specific needs and communication preferences to optimize impact. The potential of using SMS text messaging campaigns to affect behavior should be studied.Trial registrationPan-African Clinical Trials Registry (PACTR) PACTR201512001352180; https://tinyurl.com/3rxvsrbe.
| S-EPMC10242462 | biostudies-literature
Project description:Background Clinical care team members in Department of Veterans' Affairs (VA) facilities nationwide are working to integrate the use of Secure Messaging (SM) into care delivery and identify innovative uses. Identifying best practices for proactive use of SM is a key factor in its successful implementation and sustained use by VA clinical care team members and veterans.
| S-EPMC5802310 | biostudies-literature
Project description:Introduction:Young adults are rapidly adopting electronic cigarette (e-cigarette) use. The popularity of e-cigarettes among young people can be attributed to heavy industry advertising and misleading health claims. Data indicate that young e-cigarette users who have never used conventional cigarettes may transition toward smoking combustible cigarettes. Communicating e-cigarette risks via text messaging is limited. This pilot study assessed the impact of exposure to 16 text messages on e-cigarette knowledge and risk perception. The short text messages delivered to participants conveyed e-cigarette use may lead to addiction to nicotine and explained the latest health-related findings. Methods:A two-group randomized pretest and posttest study was conducted among 95 racially, ethnically diverse young adults recruited from vocational training programs. Fifty percent of participants were randomized to receive either gain- or loss-framed messages. Knowledge and risk perceptions about e-cigarettes and tobacco use were assessed pre- and post-message exposure. Results:Participants had a mean age of 20.8?years, SD?=?1.7. Current use of e-cigarettes was reported by 10.5% (10/95) and 27.4% (26/95) used a variety of other tobacco products. Findings revealed significant increases in knowledge about e-cigarettes after exposure to the messages (range for ps: p?<?04 to p?<?0.0001). A statistically significant increase in perceived e-cigarette risk was found post-exposure (p?=?0.002). Participants randomized to gain-framed messages reported a significantly higher perceived risk of using e-cigarettes post-exposure than did those who received loss-framed messages (p?=?0.02). Conclusions:This was a small-scale pilot requiring additional evidence to support the effectiveness of text messaging for increasing e-cigarette knowledge and risk perception. Future research may apply text messages to test new ways to educate young populations about tobacco use and consider addressing these messages to specific subgroups at high risk of use such as non-college bound young adults.
| S-EPMC6889374 | biostudies-literature
Project description:Outpatient cardiac rehabilitation (OP-CR) is a highly beneficial program but vastly under utilized.The efficacy of a text-messaging program was analyzed to determine if implementation could improve number of OP-CR sessions completed. All patients enrolled in OP-CR from July 2011 through December 2012 were invited to join a text-messaging program on their first visit. The program required that the patient possesses a cell phone with texting capabilities. Participants received three to five text-messages per week offering heart-healthy tips and requests for body weight, minutes of exercise, blood pressure, and medication adherence. Patients enrolled (n = 52) in the texting program (Tx) were compared with those who were not (n = 185) (NTx) in several clinical indices and were compared using matched pairs (same subjects), comparison of means and frequencies, chi-square statistics, t-tests, and the Wilcoxon Rank Sum test.Significantly more patients in the Tx group completed the OP-CR program (61.5% versus 50%, p = 0.01). For those completing OP-CR, subjects in the Tx group completed significantly more sessions (31.4) than the NTx group (25.3) (p = 0.01). Additionally, significantly more in the Tx group were younger than those in the Ntx group.Patients enrolled in OP-CR who participated in a text-messaging program were younger, attended significantly more sessions and were significantly more likely to complete the program.
| S-EPMC5497246 | biostudies-other
Project description:BackgroundeHealth interventions can help people change behavior (eg, quit smoking). Reminders sent via SMS text messaging or email may improve the adherence to web-based programs and increase the probability of successful behavior change; however, it is unclear whether their efficiency is affected by the modality of the communication channel.ObjectiveA 2-armed randomized control trial was conducted to compare the effect of providing reminders via SMS text messaging versus email on the adherence to an eHealth program for smoking cessation and on the probability to initiate a quit attempt.MethodsSmokers were recruited via an internet-based advertisement. A total of 591 participants who diverted from intended use of the program (ie, failed to log on to a session) were automatically randomized to the experimental (SMS text messaging reminder, n=304) or the active comparator (email reminder, n=287) group.ResultsUnexpectedly, we found that the mode of reminder delivery did not significantly affect either the adherence, namely the number of completed program sessions, with the SMS text messaging reminder group showing a mean of 4.30 (SD 3.24) and the email reminder group showing a mean of 4.36 (SD 3.27) (t586=0.197, P=.84, and Cohen d=0.016), or the outcome, namely the quit smoking attempt rate (34.2% in the SMS text messaging group vs 31.7% in the email group; χ21=0.4, P=.52). Secondary analyses showed that age, gender, and education had significant effects on program adherence and education on the outcome. Moreover, we found a significant interaction effect between the mode of reminder delivery and gender on program adherence, suggesting that the effectiveness of SMS text message reminders might be different for females and males. However, this particular finding should be treated with care as it was based on post hoc subgroup analysis.ConclusionsThis study indicates that the modality of user reminders to log on increased neither the program adherence nor the probability of quitting smoking. This suggests that program developers may save costs using emails instead of SMS text messaging reminders.Trial registrationClinicalTrials.gov NCT03276767; https://clinicaltrials.gov/ct2/show/ NCT03276767.
| S-EPMC8976257 | biostudies-literature
Project description:Introduction:There is limited information on effective disease monitoring for prompt interventions in childhood nephrotic syndrome. We examined the feasibility and effectiveness of a novel text messaging system (SMS) for disease monitoring in a multicenter, prospective study. Methods:A total of 127 patients <19 years with incident nephrotic syndrome were enrolled in the ongoing Nephrotic Syndrome Study Network between June 2015 and March 2018. Text messages soliciting home urine protein results, symptoms, and medication adherence were sent to a designated caregiver (n = 116) or adolescent patient (n = 3). Participants responded by texting. Feasibility of SMS was assessed by SMS adoption, retention, and engagement, and concordance between participant-reported results and laboratory/clinician assessments. The number of disease relapses and time-to-remission data captured by SMS were compared with data collected by conventional visits. Results:A total of 119 of 127 (94%) patients agreed to SMS monitoring. Retention rate was 94%, with a median follow-up of 360 days (interquartile range [IQR] 353-362). Overall engagement was high, with a median response rate of 87% (IQR, 68-97). Concordance between SMS-captured home urine protein results and edema status with same-day in-person study visit was excellent (kappa values 0.88 and 0.92, respectively). SMS detected a total of 108 relapse events compared with 41 events captured by scheduled visits. Median time to remission after enrollment was 22 days as captured by SMS versus 50 days as captured by scheduled visits. Conclusion:SMS was well accepted by caregivers and adolescent patients and reliably captured nephrotic syndrome disease activity between clinic visits. Additional studies are needed to explore the impact of SMS on disease outcomes.
| S-EPMC6698307 | biostudies-literature
Project description:Background: Spaced education and the testing effect are both educational methods that increase long-term memory formation; however, these can be difficult to implement during residency training given time constraints. Text messaging is ubiquitous but has not been studied as a spaced education tool.Objective: Assess if text messaging improves resident knowledge during an inpatient pediatric pulmonary rotation.Methods: A prospective randomized control study with pediatric residents on a pulmonary inpatient rotation was conducted at an urban free-standing children's hospital between 2016 and 2017. The intervention arm received one daily multiple-choice text message scenario and a scripted teaching text for each response. Both arms received standard pulmonary education. Knowledge was assessed using a 23-item pretest and posttest with unique, nonrepeated items with fair reliability, following iterative revisions. Perceived value of texting was assessed using Likert scales. Paired and unpaired t tests compared knowledge and value scores. The difference between pretest and posttest scores (delta) for both arms was calculated, then compared using an unpaired t test. Spearman's rho evaluated maturation bias. Analysis of variance evaluated year of training as a confounding factor.Results: A total of 65 residents were randomized, with a response rate of 81%. Posttest mean scores were lower than pretest in both arms, attributed to more difficult questions randomized to the posttest. The intervention arm scored higher on the posttest (P = 0.04). However, the delta mean did not show a statistically significant difference (P = 0.6). Text messaging was viewed as "effective" by 80% of participants in the intervention arm.Conclusion: A scripted text messaging intervention is perceived as effective by learners but did not result in measurable increased resident knowledge.
| S-EPMC8043317 | biostudies-literature