Short Message Service Technology Research Articles

User-Centered Design to Develop Automated Short Message Service Messaging for Patient Support of Rheumatic Heart Disease Secondary Antibiotic Prophylaxis.

The Active Community Case Management Platform is a cloud-based technology developed to facilitate rheumatic heart disease case management by health care providers. This study aimed to design and pilot an automated short message service (SMS) intervention to support secondary prophylaxis adherence. We developed a concise library of messages to support secondary antibiotic prophylaxis. The SMS intervention used TextIT, an interface that enables users to send out interactive SMS messages at scale. The message bank was piloted in a cohort of 50 patients with rheumatic heart disease randomized into 2 groups. Group 1 received standard support (nurse-led/Active Community Case Management Platform). Group 2 received standard support plus SMS intervention for 2 months in the Lira and Gulu districts of Northern Uganda. We collected qualitative data on participants' experiences and assessed treatment adherence. Using a sequential user-centered process consisting of 4 phases (phases 1-4), we developed a message bank (n=43) deployed during our pilot study. There were no between-group differences in treatment adherence or acceptance. Interviews of participants indicated that the intervention was viewed positively. A total of 75% of SMS recipients responded to the messages, and 25% called the study staff to acknowledge receipt of text messages. This study has successfully developed a bank of SMS messages to support secondary antibiotic prophylaxis adherence. We have demonstrated the feasibility and acceptability of SMS technology in rheumatic heart disease care management. Future work will include integrating automated SMS into the Active Community Case Management Platform and a larger study of integrated SMS to reduce health care worker burden for patient support and improve adherence to secondary antibiotic prophylaxis.

Treatment initiation among tuberculosis patients: the role of short message service (SMS) technology and Ward-based outreach teams (WBOTs)

BackgroundIn South Africa, tuberculosis (TB) is a public health problem with treatment initiation failure rates varying between 14.9 and 25%. Lack of proper provider/patient communication on next steps after testing, not being aware that results are ready; and other competing priorities are some of the reasons for this failure. We aimed to assess the effectiveness of Short Message Service (SMS) technology and ward-based outreach teams (WBOTs) in improving TB treatment initiation. A 3-arm randomized controlled trial (Standard of care-SOC, SMS technology or WBOTs) was conducted between September 2018 and April 2020. Newly diagnosed TB patients randomly allocated to SMS and WBOTs groups were sent reminder messages (text message or paper slip respectively) that results were ready. Due to unforeseen challenges (financial and impact of the COVID 19 pandemic), implementation was only in two of the eight clinics planned.Results314 TB patients were assigned to one of three groups (SOC = 104, WBOTs = 105, and SMS = 105). Chi-square tests were used to compare proportions starting treatment (primary outcome). More patients in the SMS group (92/105; 88%) initiated treatment than in the SOC group (81/104; 78%), although this difference did not reach statistical significance (P = 0.062). The time to treatment initiation was significantly shorter in the SMS group than in the SOC group (P < 0.001). The proportions of patients initiated on treatment in the WBOTs group (45/62; 73%) and in the SOC group (44/61; 72%) were similar (P = 0.956). The times to treatment initiation for these two groups were also similar. The 3 group analysis yielded similar proportions initiated on treatment (P = 0.048 for SMS/SOC comparison and P = 0.956 for WBOTs/SOC comparison) but analysis of times to treatment initiation yielded some variations.ConclusionReminder SMS messages sent to newly diagnosed TB patients improved the time to treatment initiation. Further research is required to show effect of the WBOTs intervention.Trial registrationRetrospectively registered with the Pan African Clinical Trial Registry (PACTR202101914895981).The trial was registered with the Pan African Clinical Trial Registry on 25 January, 2021 (ref: PACTR202101914895981; https://pactr.samrc.ac.za). The registration was retrospective due to an oversight. Nevertheless, the protocol details outlined in our ethics application were strictly adhered to.

The Appropriateness and Usefulness of COVID-19 Short Message Services Directed at the Public in Nigeria

The Study Carried Out An Assessment Of The Perceptions Of Health Professionals In Nigeria On The Awareness Messaging On COVID-19 Directed At The Public Using The SMS (Short Message Service) Technology. The Researcher Focused On Health Professionals In The Metropolitan Areas Of Nigeria As The Respondents. A Structured Questionnaire Titled “Health Professionals’ Perception On Awareness Of Messaging On COVID-19” Was Used To Collect Data From The Respondents. The Mode Of Data Collection Was A Questionnaire Survey Administered Online. The Findings Suggest That Health Professionals Who Participated In The Survey Have A Very Positive Perception Of The Usefulness And Appropriateness, Coverage, And Impact Of The COVID-19 Broadcast Messages From The Nigerian Centre For Disease Control (NCDC); Their Responses Show That The Short Messages Were Sent To Nigerians From Different Backgrounds And Locations To Inform The Populace About The Outbreak Of COVID-19, Prevention, Knowledge About Early Symptoms, How To Reduce The Spread Of COVID-19 In Case Of Infection And What To Do In Case Of Emergency. Additionally, The Research Outcomes Show That SMS Broadcast Was The Leading Channel Of Information Dissemination And Reception For COVID-19 Response As Against The Traditional Channel Of Information Dissemination On Radio, TV, And Others. These Findings Have Highlighted The Importance And Value Of Digital Health Services Such As SMS Technology In Responding To Health Emergencies.

Aplikasi Pemberitahuan Rapat pada STMIK Dumai Berbasis SMS Gateway

Short Message Service (SMS) is a technology that provides service for sending and receiving messages between cell phones. Every individual, government, private or educational institution cannot be separated from using SMS as one of the information media. One of them is meeting notification information. But SMS technology can only carry limited data. SMS Gateway is a system that bridges mobile phones with the system that becomes a server with SMS as the information. In the SMS Gateway work system, the user's cellular phone sends an SMS containing the written format to access the information needed through the GSM network. The SMS will be received by the SMS Gateway cellular phone which will then be retrieved by the PC using the mfbus protocol via a data cable. Up to the PC, the text format will be processed by the SMS Gateway application program to produce information that will be sent to the SMS Gateway cellular phone using the mfbus protocol via a data cable. After that the information is sent by the SMS Gateway cellular phone to the user's cellular phone. With the SMS Gateway-based meeting notification application, it can provide detailed and concurrent notification of meeting information so that each meeting member can follow according to his schedule.

PRENACEL partner - use of short message service (SMS) to encourage male involvement in prenatal care: a cluster randomized trial

BackgroundThe partner has an important role when he participates of the prenatal care as showed in the positive results relate to the mother and the child health. For this reason it is an important strategy to bring future fathers closer to health services and to improve their link with paternity.AimTo evaluate whether the implementation of SMS technology, through the PRENACEL program for the partner as a health education program, is a useful supplement to the standard prenatal monitoring.MethodsA parallel cluster randomized trial was carried out, with the clusters representing primary care health units. The 20 health units with the largest number of pregnant women in 2013 were selected for the study. There was a balance of the health units according to the size of the affiliated population and the vulnerability situation and these were allocated in intervention and control health units by the randomization. The partners of the pregnant women who started prenatal care prior to the 20th week of gestation were the study population of the intervention group. The participants received periodic short text messages via mobile phone with information about the pregnancy and birth. In the control group units the partners, together with the women, received the standard prenatal care.ResultsOne hundred eighty-six partners were interviewed, 62 from the PRENACEL group, 73 from the intervention group that did not opt ​​for PRENACEL and 51 from the control group. A profile with a mean age of 30 years was found and the majority of respondents (51.3%) declared themselves as brown race/color. The interviewees presented a mean of 9.3 years of study. The majority of the men (95.2%) cohabited with their partner and 63.7% were classified as socioeconomic class C. The adherence to the PRENACEL program was 53.4%. In relation to the individual results, there was a greater participation of the PRENACEL partners in the prenatal consultations, as well as a greater presence of them accompanying the woman at the moment of the childbirth when compared to the other groups.ConclusionThe study showed that a health education strategy using communication technology seems to be a useful prenatal care supplement; the intervention had a good acceptability and has a promising role in men’s involvement in prenatal, labour and postpartum care of their partners.Trial registrationClinical trial registry: RBR-54zf73, U1111–1163-7761.

Helper an Offline Android Application for Remote Controlling and Accessing of Mobile

A mobile phone can be used to send and receive text messages, with wide coverage area, high reliability, high popularity by using Short message service technology. Using Global system for mobile communication, messages can be sent and received between two devices. The remote system is used to send specific SMS to predetermined number at any moment. To get specific information from a mobile it should be accessed. In the mini project we completed the modules which enables and disables the Bluetooth, Wi-Fi, sound, Battery, location display through a simple SMS from another mobile. In major project we aim to complete modules that involves camera, Wi-Fi hotspot and Audio recording which are also be enabled and disabled by SMS without using internet and works remotely. By this application one can easily access their mobile from any place and operate remotely. By sending a SMS to their own mobile it automatically gets the details of that module by the commands and it can be returned to the same number as a received message.

Feasibility of a short message service (SMS) intervention to deliver tuberculosis testing results in peri-urban and rural Uganda

BackgroundPre-treatment loss to follow-up is common for patients diagnosed with tuberculosis (TB) in high-burden countries. Delivering test results by Short-Messaging-Service (SMS) is increasingly being considered as a solution, but there is limited information about its feasibility as a public health tool in low resourced settings. ObjectiveWe sought to assess the feasibility of utilizing SMS technology to deliver TB test results during routine TB diagnostic evaluation in Uganda. MethodsWe conducted a single arm interventional pilot study at four community health centers in Uganda that referred sputum samples to a district hospital for GeneXpert-MTB/RIF (Xpert) testing (Cepheid, USA). Using existing GxAlert-software (SystemOne,USA), we set up an automated SMS platform to send Xpert results to patients and referring health centers. We assessed each step of the SMS delivery cascade for consecutive patients who presented to these four community health centers between December 2015 and March 2016 and underwent Xpert testing. ResultsOf 233 patients enrolled, 161 (69%) had phone numbers recorded on individual Xpert referral forms. Phone numbers were entered into Xpert device software in the correct format for 152 (94%) patients. GxAlert-software generated an automated SMS reporting Xpert results for 151 (99%) patients and delivered it successfully to mobile phone service providers for 145/151 (96%). Of the 123 patients reached by phone to determine receipt of test results, 114 (93%) confirmed SMS receipt. SMS-based delivery of Xpert results was verified for 114/233 (49%) patients overall. In contrast, phone calls to health centers confirmed that health centers received messages for 222/233 (95%) patients. ConclusionReporting Xpert results via automated SMS is technically feasible and results in approximately half of patients receiving their test results immediately. Additional research should be done to address process inefficiencies in order to maximize impact of this technology and link its successful utilization to improved patient outcomes.

SMS NOTIFICATION IMPLEMENTING INTERNET OF THINGSFOR BARANGAY LABAS, CITY OF SANTA ROSA, LAGUNA

A Barangay is the smallest governmental sector in the Philippines and is the local Filipino name for a village or community. It is governed by elected officials, the topmost being the Punong Barangay or the Barangay Chairperson and assisted by the Sanguniang Barangay or Barangay Councilors. Due to faster-growing modernization and advanced technologies, barangay operations must keep pace with this new kind technology in order to provide a better service. Unfortunately, most of the barangay are still not prepared to incorporate this kind of new technology. One of them is Barangay Labas as one of the 18 barangays of the City of Santa Rosa, Province of Laguna, the barangay is using manual processing of the document and manual processing of delivering information to its residents. The SMS Notification Implementing Internet of Things for Barangay Labas, City of Santa Rosa, Laguna is system will help the barangay in processing documents request and delivering the fastest information to its residents. This system can process a documents request in a fastest and convenient way and delivering information to its residents in the fastest way through the help of Short Message Services Technology (SMS).

SIKAP MAHASISWA TERHADAP PESAN PENGINGAT DONOR DARAH DENGAN TEKNOLOGI SMS GATEWAY

According to the World Health Organization (WHO) blood supply recommendation,Indonesia has 2.5 million blood bags less than it is needed. The majority of Indonesian peoplehave already had mobile phones and thus favorable for the application of short message service(SMS). It is feaseable to use SMS in order to improve donor motivation. This study would like toevaluate students' attitude toward blood donor's message reminder using SMS from the BloodDonors Directory, Faculty of Medicine, Gadjah Mada University. It was a quantitative study withcross-sectional design. Undergraduate medical students recorded in the database of Blood DonorsDirectory Faculty of Medicine, Gadjah Mada University were chosen as the study population.Simple random sampling was applied to choose the subjects. This study used the framework ofTechnology Acceptance Model (TAM) and data were analyzed using Partial Least Square basedStructural Equation Modelling (SEM). Attitude of blood donor's message reminder significantlyinfluenced perceived ease of use and perceived usefulness of SMS technology. Attitude of blooddonor's message reminder significantly influenced perceived entertainment, irritation, as well ascredibility of message content. No significantly influenced by perceived informative. Theintention to donate blood were significantly influenced by the attitude of blood donor's messagereminder. Students' attitude in donating blood was positively influenced by good perceptionabout ease of use and usefulness of SMS technology. It was also positively influenced by positiveperception to entertaining and credible messages, as well as negative perception to irritatingmessages. The positive attitude towards donor's message reminder would support the intention tobehave as blood donors.

Disruptive Technology: The Future of SMS Technology

The research illustrates a view on the current trends in the telecommunication industry focusing on the matter of Short Message Service (SMS) technology. It targets and explains disruptive technology and also introduces disruptive technology in Short Message Service (SMS). The methodology of this research is market trend analysis using data on volume of Short Message Service (SMS) sent and received through a mobile network and a survey that was conducted with questionnaires. The findings are Short Message Service (SMS) is predicted to become obsolete and be disrupted by Over the Top (OTT) messaging application by the third quarter of the year 2020. This was implemented with linear regression prediction. By the survey a new trend of using Short Message Service (SMS) has emerged but users have certainly moved away from SMS and now prefer texting Over the Top (OTT) messaging applications.

Exploring farmers’ intentions to adopt mobile Short Message Service (SMS) for citizen science in agriculture

Understanding farmers’ intentions to use new technologies for agricultural data collection is essential in developing digital citizen science in agriculture. While more advanced technologies are available, to reach smallholder farmers simple technologies such as mobile SMS are needed. The main objective of this study was to explore the acceptance of mobile SMS technology by smallholder farmers to provide farm related information. A second objective was to assess the role of farmer’s characteristics (i.e., age and experience) in predicting farmers’ intentions to adopt mobile SMS. This study extended the unified theory of acceptance and use of technology (UTAUT2) model with constructs from trust, personal innovativeness in information technology and mastery-approach goals. The sample (N = 220) consisted of a group of smallholder farmers from three Ethiopian regions involved in a mobile SMS experiment and a control group. Structural equation modelling showed that intentions to adopt mobile SMS technology for agricultural data provision were predicted by the perceived usefulness of the technology (performance expectancy), the effort needed to use the technology (effort expectancy), the cost of using the technology (price value) and the trustworthiness of the organising body (trust; e.g., organisations behind the citizen science initiative). Multi-group analysis using farmer’s age and experience as moderator variables further revealed that performance expectancy was important for younger farmers, whereas price value was important for farmers who did not participate in a mobile SMS experiment. This study generates useful information and implications for citizen science practitioners, policy makers and mobile application developers by identifying the driving factors for farmers to adopt mobile SMS for agricultural data collection.

SMS Based M-Learning System for the Underprivileged Children in Developing Nations

United nations have defined Internet as a human right as it enables us to effectively share ideas. Even though it has revolutionized the way we live, access to it is dependent on socio economic factors, as many in the developing nations simply cannot afford to own a computer. The paper proposes ‘TextNet’ system which enables people to access Internet through SMS Technology. The proposed system provides offline access to information available over Internet and works solely on the SMS (Short Message Service). A user simply needs to send a request for information about any topic to a designated number, which is received at server and after fetching information from Internet; the server sends it back to user through SMS

Rapid sociometric mapping of community health workers to identify opinion leaders using an SMS platform: a short report

BackgroundUsing opinion leaders to accelerate the dissemination of evidence-based public health practices is a promising strategy for closing the gap between evidence and practice. Network interventions (using social network data to accelerate behavior change or improve organizational performance) are a promising but under-explored strategy. We aimed to use mobile phone technology to rapidly and inexpensively map a social network and identify opinion leaders among community health workers in a large HIV program in western Kenya.MethodsWe administered a five-item socio-metric survey to community health workers using a mobile phone short message service (SMS)-based questionnaire. We used the survey results to construct and characterize a social network of opinion leaders among respondents. We calculated the extent to which a particular respondent was a popular point of reference (“degree centrality”) and the influence of a respondent within the network (“eigenvector centrality”).ResultsSurveys were returned by 38/39 (97%) of peer health workers contacted; 52% were female. The median survey response time was 13.75 min (inter-quartile range, 8.8–38.7). The total cost of relaying survey questions through a secure cloud-based SMS aggregator was $8.46. The most connected individuals (high degree centrality) were also the most influential (high eigenvector centrality). The distribution of influence (eigenvector centrality) was highly skewed in favor of a single influential individual at each site.ConclusionsLeveraging increasing access to SMS technology, we mapped the network of influence among community health workers associated with a HIV treatment program in Kenya. Survey uptake was high, response rates were rapid, and the survey identified clear opinion leaders. In sum, we offer proof of concept that a “mobile health” (mHealth) approach can be used in resource-limited settings to efficiently map opinion leadership among health care workers and thus open the door to reproducible, feasible, and efficient empirically based network interventions that seek to spread novel practices and behaviors among health care workers.

Confronting Challenges in Monitoring and Evaluation: Innovation in the Context of the Global Plan Towards the Elimination of New HIV Infections Among Children by 2015 and Keeping Their Mothers Alive.

The Global Plan Towards the Elimination of New HIV Infections Among Children by 2015 and Keeping Their Mothers Alive (Global Plan), which was launched in 2011, set a series of ambitious targets, including a reduction of new HIV infections among children by 90% by 2015 (from a baseline year of 2009) and AIDS-related maternal mortality by 50% by 2015. To reach these targets, the Global Plan called for unprecedented investments in the prevention of mother-to-child transmission of HIV (PMTCT), innovative new approaches to service delivery, immense collective effort on the programmatic and policy fronts, and importantly, a renewed focus on data collection and use. We provide an overview of major achievements in monitoring and evaluation across Global Plan countries and highlight key challenges and innovative country-driven solutions using PMTCT program data. Specifically, we describe the following: (1) Uganda's development and use of a weekly reporting system for PMTCT using short message service technology that facilitates real-time monitoring and programmatic adjustments throughout the transition to a "treat all" approach for pregnant and breastfeeding women living with HIV (Option B+); (2) Uganda's work to eliminate parallel reporting systems while strengthening the national electronic district health information system; and (3) how routine PMTCT program data in Nigeria can be used to estimate HIV prevalence at the local level and address a critical gap in local descriptive epidemiologic data to better target limited resources. We also identify several ongoing challenges in data collection, analysis, and use, and we suggest potential solutions.

Short message service (SMS) as an educational tool during pregnancy: A literature review

Background: In many low- and middle-income countries, access to health information during pregnancy is poor. The rapid adoption of mobile phones in these countries has created new opportunities for disseminating such information. Objective: This paper reviews existing information on the use of short message services (SMSs) as a feasible tool to transmit health education information. Methods: The PubMed, Cochrane library, EMBASE and Google scholar databases were searched for studies in which mobile phone SMSs were used to promote health education during pregnancy. Studies of adult women, from any setting, who received SMS health education messages during their pregnancy, were included, irrespective of study design. Results: The analysis of results followed a narrative synthesis approach, a textual approach involving a synthesis of findings from multiple studies. The synthesis was developed manually, based on the extraction of data. All studies demonstrated use or interest in SMS technology to facilitate health information messaging. Findings from several studies showed that pregnant women were both receptive and willing to use SMS technology to enhance their health. In Zanzibar, the effect of SMS on skilled delivery rates and access to emergency healthcare was assessed. The effects SMS alerts had on hospital deliveries and SMS interventions had on facility use during pregnancy were assessed in Rwanda. Conclusion: The review highlights the practicality and willingness of utilising SMS technology to promote or enhance health education.

Feasibility and acceptability of SMS text messaging in a prostate cancer educational intervention for African American men.

African Americans' greater access to mobile phones makes short messaging service technology a promising complement to health promotion interventions. Short messaging service text messages were added to the Men's Prostate Awareness Church Training project, a men's health intervention for African American men. We report on the feasibility and acceptability of the use of short messaging service text messages in the intervention. Short messaging service text messages served as (1) workshop reminders; (2) post-workshop message reinforcement; (3) spiritual/motivational messages; and (4) participant retention. At workshop 4, over 65 percent of participants wished to continue receiving the messages. While there was an increase in recall over time, more than one-third of the participants did not recall receiving the 53 text messages. However, recall was considerably greater among men who attended the Men's Prostate Awareness Church Training workshops. Overall, the inclusion of text messages in health promotion interventions targeting mature African American men was found to be feasible and acceptable.

TRACnet Internet and Short Message Service Technology Improves Time to Antiretroviral Therapy Initiation Among HIV-infected Infants in Rwanda.

Delays in testing HIV-exposed infants and obtaining results in resource-limited settings contribute to delays for initiating antiretroviral therapy (ART) in infants. To overcome this challenge, Rwanda expanded its national mobile and Internet-based HIV/AIDS informatics system, called TRACnet, to include HIV polymerase chain reaction (PCR) results in 2010. This study was performed to evaluate the impact of TRACnet technology on the time to delivery of test results and the subsequent initiation of ART in HIV-infected infants. A retrospective cohort study was conducted on 380 infants who initiated ART in 190 health facilities in Rwanda from March 2010 to June 2013. Program data collected by the TRACnet system were extracted and analyzed. Since the introduction of TRACnet for processing PCR results, the time to receive results has significantly decreased from a median of 144 days [interquartile range (IQR): 121-197 days] to 23 days (IQR: 17-43 days). The number of days between PCR sampling and health facility receipt of results decreased substantially from a median of 90 days (IQR: 83-158 days) to 5 days (IQR: 2-8 days). After receiving PCR results at a health facility, it takes a median of 44 days (IQR: 32-77 days) before ART initiation. Result turnaround time was significantly associated with time to initiating ART (P < 0.001). An increased number of staff trained for HIV care and treatment was also significantly associated with decreased time to ART initiation (P = 0.004). The use of mobile technology for communication of HIV PCR results, coupled with well-trained and skilled personnel, can reduce delays in communicating results to providers. Such reductions may improve timely ART initiation in resource-limited settings.

SIKAP MAHASISWA TERHADAP PESAN PENGINGAT DONOR DARAH DENGAN TEKNOLOGI SMS GATEWAY

Abstract According to the World Health Organization (WHO) blood supply recommendation, Indonesia has 2.5 million blood bags less than it is needed. The majority of Indonesian people have already had mobile phones and thus favorable for the application of short message service (SMS). It is feaseable to use SMS in order to improve donor motivation. This study would like to evaluate students' attitude toward blood donor's message reminder using SMS from the Blood Donors Directory, Faculty of Medicine, Gadjah Mada University. This is a quantitative study with cross-sectional design. Undergraduate medical students recorded in the database of Blood Donors Directory Faculty of Medicine, Gadjah Mada University were chosen as the study population. Simple random sampling was applied to choose the subjects. This study used the framework of Technology Acceptance Model (TAM) and data were analyzed using Partial Least Square based Structural Equation Modelling (SEM). Attitude of blood donor's message reminder significantly influenced perceived ease of use and perceived usefulness of SMS technology. Attitude of blood donor's message reminder significantly influenced perceived entertainment, irritation, as well as credibility of message content. No significantly influenced by perceived informative. The intention to donate blood were significantly influenced by the attitude of blood donor's message reminder. Students' attitude in donating blood was positively influenced by good perception about ease of use and usefulness of SMS technology. It was also positively influenced by positive perception to entertaining and credible messages, as well as negative perception to irritating messages. The positive attitude towards donor's message reminder would support the intention to behave as blood donors. Keywords : SMS gateway, attitudes toward SMS, blood donation, Technology Acceptance Model (TAM), Structural Equation Modelling ( SEM), Partial Least Square (PLS)

The use of short message services (SMS) to provide medical updating to parents in the NICU.

Premature delivery and prolonged hospitalization of infants in the neonatal intensive care unit (NICU) are very stressful for parents. As technology has advanced, short message services (SMS) have been used increasingly in the medical disciplines. To date, the use of SMS for updating patients and families regarding medical information has not been reported. We implemented the SMS technique to daily update the parents regarding the health status of their preterm infant. The objective of this study was to evaluate the use of SMS technology and to assess its impact on the parents and the nursing staff. Parents and nurses completed questionnaires at two time periods: pre-SMS implementation (pre-SMSi) and post-SMS implementation (post-SMSi). The parent questionnaires included statements about medical information delivery, communication and trust between parents and medical staff, parental anxiety and overall satisfaction. The nurse questionnaires included statements about the expected and actual impact on their workload. Comparison of the parents' responses at the two time periods indicated that in the post-SMSi time period, they felt that the physician was more available when needed (P=0.002), they were more comfortable about approaching the physician (P=0.001) and more satisfied with the medical information provided by the staff (P=0.03). In the post-SMSi period, 78.1% of the nurses noted that the SMS communication is a convenient and user-friendly method. SMS updating is an easy and user-friendly technology that enriches the modalities of information delivery to parents of hospitalized preterm infants. It is a complementary and useful tool for encouraging and improving personal communication between parents and medical staff and should be considered part of quality improvement in health care.

Continuous active surveillance of adverse events following immunisation using SMS technology

IntroductionOn-going post-licensure surveillance of adverse events following immunisation (AEFI) is critical to detecting and responding to potentially serious adverse events in a timely manner. SmartVax is a vaccine safety monitoring tool that uses automated data extraction from existing practice management software and short message service (SMS) technology to follow-up vaccinees in real-time. We report on childhood vaccine safety surveillance using SmartVax at a medical practice in Perth, Western Australia. MethodsParents of all children under age five years who were vaccinated according to the Australian National Immunisation Schedule between November 2011 and June 2015 were sent an SMS three days post administration to enquire whether the child had experienced a suspected vaccine reaction. Affirmative replies triggered a follow-up SMS requesting details of the reaction(s) via a link to a survey that could be completed using a smartphone or the web. Rates of reported AEFI including fever, headache, fatigue, rash, vomiting, diarrhoea, rigours, seizures, and local reactions were calculated by vaccination time point. ResultsOverall, 239 (8.2%; 95% CI 7.2–9.2%) possible vaccine reactions were reported for 2897 vaccination visits over the 44 month time period. The proportion of children experiencing a possible AEFI, mostly local reactions, was significantly greater following administration of diphtheria–tetanus–pertussis–poliomyelitis vaccine at 4 years of age (77/441; 17.5%; 95% CI 13.9–21.0%) compared to the vaccinations given at 2–18 months (p<0.001). Across all time points, local reactions and fatigue were the most frequently reported AEFI. ConclusionAutomated SMS-based reporting can facilitate sustainable, real-time, monitoring of adverse reactions and contribute to early identification of potential vaccine safety issues.