You’ve got the mumps, LOL 🙂
Okay, so you’re never going to get a text like that from your doctor. If you do, run and find a new doc.
But smart healthcare providers are catching on to interacting with their patients via smartphones (sans emoticons).
Modern medicine is just beginning to catch up to tech and figure out how SMS can be another tool to help patients. While the healthcare industry must adhere to additional electronic privacy rules along with standard anti-spam and proper marketing regulations that everyone else must follow, providers and their staff can still find smart ways to utilize texting.
Examples
- Appointment reminders. Instead of a card in the mail or a courtesy phone call, your provider’s office can send texts confirming an upcoming visit, or an automated text once a year for a check-up. Texts to doctors can also help them remember their own appointments.
- Seeking Advice. As long as the patient’s identity is protected, doctors can seek advice from other peers or specialists. Physician A’s texts can also get right through to Physician B, rather than going through the phone system and leaving a message, or sending an email that may get lost among the hundreds of others that doctors typically receive.
- Better adherence. A British study showed that patients who had regular text reminders from their providers were less likely to forget to take their medication or the wrong quantity. A group of 303 patients being treated for heart or blood pressure problems were divided into groups that received SMS notifications versus another group that didn’t. The texts were sent daily for the first two weeks, then every other day for two weeks, then weekly for five months. The study found that 25 percent of the “non-text” group didn’t complete the prescription, compared to 9 percent of the “text” group. This type of active texting could potentially lead to better prescription management — such as less waste, and better outcomes, i.e., if a patient doesn’t comply with a prescription or a recommended medical plan, they’ll increase the odds of suffering future problems like heart attacks.
- Better interaction with pharmacies. If a pharmacy has “just a little question for the doctor” it might take hours for the provider to receive a phone message but a quick text can lead to quick communication and a fast response.
- Provide accurate information. Doctors often discourage patients from research their problems online research and self diagnosing. So much of the information available on the Internet is questionable, wrong, and even dangerous. A study in the Journal of Medical internet Research showed that patients and doctors are both aware of some of the credibility concerns of certain sites, and suggests that improved communication between patient and provider can reduce anxiety and confusion. An SMS environment may not prove the best place to debate pros and cons of technical studies but a doctor or doctor’s office can text a patient reliable web links to accurate information — including the doctor’s website — and invite the patient to make an appointment for further discussion.
- Quick interactions. Many doctors and nurses would love nothing better than to spend more time with every patient but the reality of the current industry is that giving extra time for one patient means less time or delays for the next patient. Texting is a time-efficient way for a doctor and doctor’s staff to provide quick answers to patients with basic questions that may not necessitate an appointment.
Bottom Line
Texting can be a useful tool for physicians to communicate accurate information, maximize time management and improve patient relations.
Guest post by Sophorn Chhay, an inbound marketer specializing in attracting targeted visitors and generated sales qualified leads. Through Trumpia’s SMS and marketing automation solution he helps businesses and organizations communicate effectively with their customers or members. Trumpia is offering a free Mobile Marketing Success Kit so don’t forget to grab your free copy.