Abstract
BackgroundMedication adherence is critical for patient treatment. This study involved evaluating how implementing Short Message Service (SMS) reminders affected patient medication adherence and related factors.MethodsWe used a structured questionnaire to survey outpatients at three medical centers. Patients aged 20 years and older who were prescribed more than 7 days of a prescription medication were randomized into SMS intervention or control groups. The intervention group received daily messages reminding them of aspects regarding taking their medication; the control group received no messages. A phone follow-up was performed to assess outcomes after 8 days. Data were collected from 763 participants in the intervention group and 435 participants in the control group.ResultsAfter participants in the intervention group received SMS reminders to take medication or those in the control group received no messages, incidences of delayed doses were decreased by 46.4 and 78.8% for those in the control and intervention groups, respectively. The rate of missed doses was decreased by 90.1% for participants in the intervention group and 61.1% for those in the control group. We applied logistic regression analysis and determined that participants in the intervention group had a 3.2-fold higher probability of having a decrease in delayed doses compared with participants in the control group. Participants in the intervention group also showed a 2.2-fold higher probability of having a decrease in missed doses compared with participants in the control group.ConclusionsUse of SMS significantly affected the rates of taking medicine on schedule. Therefore, daily SMS could be useful for reminding patients to take their medicine on schedule.
Highlights
Medication adherence is critical for patient treatment
A report published by the World Health Organization (WHO) in 2003 indicated that effective and innovative strategies for improving medication adherence can more significantly influence human health compared with advancements in medical techniques [2]
We studied the effectiveness of Short Message Service (SMS) reminders as an intervention to determine whether they improved patient medication adherence
Summary
Medication adherence is critical for patient treatment. This study involved evaluating how implementing Short Message Service (SMS) reminders affected patient medication adherence and related factors. According to a literature review, an average of 48–80% of patients with chronic psychiatric diseases adhered to their prescribed treatment [3]. An average of 25% of diabetes patients and 53% of hypertensive patients adhered to their prescribed treatment for 6 months [4]. Such low medication adherence by various patient groups with chronic diseases has compelled the worldwide medical community to increasingly focus on applying technology to remedy this situation
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