OBJECTIVE This study investigated the effects of using a cell phone to retrieve and send text messages on the driving performance of young novice drivers. BACKGROUND Young drivers are particularly susceptible to driver distraction and have an increased risk of distraction-related crashes. Distractions from in-vehicle devices, particularly, those that require manual input, are known to cause d...

OBJECTIVE Latino populations, particularly Mexican-Americans who comprise 65% of the Latinos in the U.S., are disproportionately affected by HPV-related diseases. The HPV vaccination completion rates remain low, well below the Healthy People 2020 goal. In this study we assessed the effect of parental education and a text messaging reminder service on HPV vaccine completion rates among eligible ...

Text messaging health promotion projects continue to proliferate due to their relative low-cost, simplicity, non-intrusiveness, and proven effectiveness in several randomized controlled trials. In these past trials, participants have typically been recruited through traditional means, received the text messaging intervention, and then completed evaluation. In this issue of the Journal of Medica...

BACKGROUND With the increasing penetration of digital mobile devices among adolescents, mobile texting messaging is emerging as a new channel for patient-clinician communication for this population. In particular, it can promote active communication between healthcare clinicians and adolescents with asthma. However, little is known about the content of the messages exchanged in medical encounte...

Today’s medical students and residents are from the first generation of digital natives: those who grew up with cell phones, text messaging, and the Internet. They are comfortable with e-innovation, are increasingly disengaged from traditional teaching methods within medical schools and residency programs, and are quick to embrace new teaching technologies. Students instead stream lectures from...

BACKGROUND Despite high-quality evidence demonstrating that screening reduces mortality from breast, cervical, colorectal, and lung cancers, a substantial portion of the population remains inadequately screened. There is a critical need to identify interventions that increase the uptake and adoption of evidence-based screening guidelines for preventable cancers at the community practice level. ...

Mobile phone text messaging (Short Message Service, SMS) has proved to be a powerful tool for many tasks in health care. It is affordable and instant way for communication between health care personnel and patients, enabling different kinds of control and monitoring applications, improving adherence in self-management of chronic diseases or healthy lifestyle programs etc. However, it is not onl...

BACKGROUND The efficacy of antiretroviral therapy depends on patient adherence to a daily medication regimen, yet many patients fail to adhere at high enough rates to maintain health and reduce the risk of transmitting HIV. Given the explosive global growth of cellular-mobile phone use, text-messaging interventions to promote adherence are especially appropriate. This meta-analysis synthesized ...