Patients under 65 years old were more likely to be willing to receive a text-message medication reminder than those over 65, but there was no difference by age for e-mail reminders.
When it comes to appointment reminders, Dr. Hughes notes, the younger patients might be more in need of text-message reminders, anyway.
“Although this survey found that the number of patients over 65 with access to ICT [information and communications technology] reduced to less than 50%, the patients that miss appointments tend to be younger and working, indicating that those who would most benefit from this type of reminder are already familiar with the technology,” Dr. Hughes says.
The survey did not try to ascertain whether patients currently using the technology would be willing to try it for medical reminders, and health outcomes resulting from the use of the technology weren’t tracked.
Other Text Message Studies
However, there is some evidence that text messaging works for appointment reminders. The researchers recently did a pilot study on appointment reminders and found that 60% of patients offered an appointment reminder by text message requested one, and 85% of them subsequently attended their appointment.2 Interestingly, 25% of those patients admitted that they would not have attended had they not gotten the reminder.
“Patients indicated that having all the relevant information available on their phones (date, time, location, details to cancel or reschedule) increased the salience of the appointment and reduced the possibility of increasing waiting times by having incorrect information,” Dr. Hughes says.
Dr. Hughes is planning further investigations involving medication reminders and reminders for blood-test monitoring, which, if done in a timely manner, means that results can be discussed during appointments.
Studies have found text messaging to be helpful when the right patients are engaged.
A Michigan State University study found that having teenagers complete a text-messaging survey while in the waiting room proved to be a successful way to screen for unhealthy behaviors, including hazardous alcohol drinking.3
An analysis of four randomized controlled trials involving 3,547 patients found that there is evidence of moderate quality that mobile phone text-message appointment reminders are more effective than no reminders, and low-quality evidence that text messages are better than reminders that come in the regular mail.
The study also found moderate-quality evidence that text messages are just as effective as reminders by phone, with a lower associated cost.
But overall, the evidence either way is limited, the researchers say.
