Congestive Heart Failure, Copd, Diabetes, Renal Failure
Conditions
Keywords
mhealth, text messaging, secure text messaging, communication
Brief summary
In this study, the investigators will conduct a randomized, controlled trial to evaluate the impact of offering mobile secure text messaging on clinical outcomes.
Detailed description
Inpatient health care providers such as physicians and nurses spend up to one-third of their time communicating with other health care providers. Many of these communications have shifted mediums from handwritten notes and face-to-face conversations to phone calls and paging systems. More recently the rapid adoption of smartphones has led to the use of mobile-enabled technologies using smartphones such as text messaging and email. While these technologies may offer ease and fit better within the clinical workflow, they often send patient information through unsecure cellular or internet connections. Mobile secure text messaging may address these issues by encrypting data and allowing for asynchronous or synchronous communication between individual providers or groups of providers. In this study, the investigators will conduct a randomized, controlled trial to evaluate the impact of offering mobile secure text messaging on clinical outcomes.
Interventions
DEVICESecure text messaging
A smartphone and web application that allows physicians and other health care professionals to communicate to each other by secure text message
Sponsors
University of Pennsylvania
Study design
Allocation
RANDOMIZED
Intervention model
PARALLEL
Primary purpose
HEALTH_SERVICES_RESEARCH
Masking
SINGLE (Investigator)
Eligibility
Sex/Gender
ALL
Age
18 Years to No maximum
Healthy volunteers
Yes
Inclusion criteria
* Admission to one of the hospital floors or services in the study at the Hospital of the University of Pennsylvania
Exclusion criteria
* Discharges against medical advice * Discharges to hospice
Design outcomes
Primary
| Measure | Time frame | Description |
|---|---|---|
| Change in length of stay | 6 months | Change in inpatient length of stay from baseline to 6 months |
| Change in 30 day hospital readmissions | 6 months | Change in 30 day hospital readmissions from baseline to 6 months |
| Change in inpatient mortality | 6 months | Change in inpatient mortality from baseline to 6 months |
Secondary
| Measure | Time frame | Description |
|---|---|---|
| Change in Hospital Consumer Assessment of Healthcare Providers and Systems (HCAPs) scores | 6 months | Change in HCAP scores from baseline to 6 months |
Countries
United States
Outcome results
None listed