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Text Message Appointment Reminders (TAR)

This study is ongoing, but not recruiting participants.
Sponsor:
Information provided by (Responsible Party):
Sanjay Arora, University of Southern California
ClinicalTrials.gov Identifier:
NCT01676337
First received: August 28, 2012
Last updated: April 1, 2013
Last verified: April 2013
History of Changes
  Purpose

This project proposes administer and evaluate via a randomized controlled trail a text message-based appointment reminder system to promote attendance at clinic appointments after ED discharge.


Condition Intervention
Text Messages
Emergencies
 Other: Text message appointment reminder

Study Type: Interventional
Study Design: Allocation: Randomized
Intervention Model: Parallel Assignment
Masking: Open Label
Primary Purpose: Health Services Research
Official Title: A Text-message Appointment Reminder System to Improve Patient Adherence With Outpatient Follow-up Appointments

Further study details as provided by University of Southern California:

Primary Outcome Measures:
  • Adherence with scheduled appointments within 30 days post-enrollment [ Time Frame: 30 days ] [ Designated as safety issue: No ]

Secondary Outcome Measures:
  • Adherence with scheduled appointments within 6 months post-enrollment [ Time Frame: 6 months ] [ Designated as safety issue: No ]

Estimated Enrollment: 1300
Study Start Date: July 2012
Estimated Study Completion Date: July 2013
Estimated Primary Completion Date: July 2013 (Final data collection date for primary outcome measure)
Arms Assigned Interventions
No Intervention: Control
Patients randomized to the control arm will not receive text message reminder regarding their upcoming appointment.
Experimental: Text message appointment reminder
Patients randomized to the intervention arm will receive text message appointment reminders including date, time, and location seven, three and one day prior to their scheduled clinic appointments. All appointment reminders will then be delivered automatically.
 Other: Text message appointment reminder
Patients randomized to the intervention arm will receive text message appointment reminders including date, time, and location seven, three and one day prior to their scheduled clinic appointments. All appointment reminders will then be delivered automatically.

Detailed Description:

Failure to attend scheduled clinic appointments causes inefficiency within the healthcare system, and frequently results in ED visits for non-emergent conditions such as medication refills, ambulatory care sensitive conditions which are potentially preventable with appropriate outpatient management (e.g. foot infections). Many patients seen in the ED report they were unaware of past or future outpatient appointments for which they had been scheduled. These patients are clearly in need of primary care, yet fail to attend 30% of all scheduled outpatient appointments. Patients most often report that they failed to attend scheduled appointments as a result of forgetfulness or confusion regarding dates, times, or locations. National data confirmed by our previous work in the LAC+USC ED demonstrates that > 80% of this population reports using a text-capable mobile device. The investigators believe a system of text message appointment reminders has tremendous potential to facilitate clinic attendance among these patients in desperate need of primary care.

  Eligibility

Ages Eligible for Study:   18 Years and older
Genders Eligible for Study:   Both
Accepts Healthy Volunteers:   No
Criteria

Inclusion Criteria:

  • Age >18
  • Able to provide consent and read in English or Spanish
  • Have a text message capable mobile phone
  • Know how to receive text messages
  • Have upcoming scheduled clinic appointments

Exclusion Criteria:

  • Unable to provide written informed consent
  • Incarcerated
  • Critically ill
  • Altered Mental Status
  Contacts and Locations
Please refer to this study by its ClinicalTrials.gov identifier: NCT01676337

Locations
United States, California
University of Southern California
Los Angeles, California, United States, 90033
Sponsors and Collaborators
University of Southern California
Investigators
Principal Investigator: Sanjay Arora, MD University of Southern California
Principal Investigator: Michael Menchine, MD, MPH University of California
  More Information

No publications provided

Responsible Party: Sanjay Arora, MD, University of Southern California
ClinicalTrials.gov Identifier: NCT01676337     History of Changes
Other Study ID Numbers: HS-12-00239
Study First Received: August 28, 2012
Last Updated: April 1, 2013
Health Authority: United States: Institutional Review Board

Keywords provided by University of Southern California:
Text messaging
Clinic appointment attendance
Emergency department
Primary care

Additional relevant MeSH terms:
Emergencies
Disease Attributes
Pathologic Processes

ClinicalTrials.gov processed this record on May 23, 2013