To diagnose hypertension, multiple blood pressure (BP) measurements are recommended. We randomized patients into three groups: EMR-only (patients recorded BP measurements in an electronic medical record [EMR] web portal), EMR + reminders (patients were sent text message reminders to record their BP measurements in the EMR), and bi-directional text messaging (patients were sent a text message as...

BACKGROUND Following HIV-1 acquisition, many individuals develop an acute retroviral syndrome and a majority seek care. Available antibody testing cannot detect an acute HIV infection, but repeat testing after 2-4 weeks may detect seroconversion. We assessed the effect of appointment reminders on attendance for repeat HIV testing. METHODS We enrolled, in a randomized controlled trial, 18-29 y...

The purpose of the study was to explore relationships between nurses' perceptions of the impact of health information technology on their clinical practice in the acute care setting, their use of electronic nursing care reminders, and episodes of missed nursing care. The study aims were accomplished with a descriptive design using adjusted correlations. A convenience sample (N = 165) of medical...

Informal caregivers play a fundamental role in caring for people that need assistance and provide an effective service managing their loved ones’ health. Because of this, they have little time to attend themselves perform self-care practices. Some these practices can improve mental By snowball sampling, we recruited 15 informal caregivers, 12 females three males. Using the Wilcoxon signed-rank ...

BACKGROUND AND OBJECTIVES Medical students increasingly log patient encounters on handheld computers. Detailed patient records captured at the bedside would allow these log programs to complement medical education with automated reminders. We evaluated progress toward this goal. METHODS A series of electronic student encounter logs (ESEL) were designed to quickly record common diagnoses in a ...

BACKGROUND AND OBJECTIVES This study assessed the effect of automated prenatal care reminders on adherence to standards of prenatal care at two family medicine teaching clinics. METHODS This was a reversal-design prospective study using medical records of prenatal patients during baseline, intervention, and post-intervention periods. RESULTS A total of 9.5% of patients received all guidelin...

vaccination of high-risk patients reduced winter hospitalizations, emergency room visits, and tests for respiratory ailments by 10% to 20%. As part of a three-year randomized trial, physicians of patients at high risk for serious illness from influenza infection in the study group received computer reminders to take preventive-care actions, while physicians of high-risk patients in the control ...

BACKGROUND Guidelines recommend frequent screening of men who have sex with men (MSM) for sexually transmissible infections (STIs) but few interventions have demonstrated increased testing and detection of bacterial STIs among MSM in controlled studies. METHODS We used automated text message and email reminders generated by computer assisted self-interview (CASI) to remind MSM to retest for s...

BACKGROUND The opportunity to improve care using computer reminders is one of the main incentives for implementing sophisticated clinical information systems. We conducted a systematic review to quantify the expected magnitude of improvements in processes of care from computer reminders delivered to clinicians during their routine activities. METHODS We searched the MEDLINE, Embase and CINAHL...

BACKGROUND Adherence to evidence-based therapies such as medications and exercise remains poor among patients after a myocardial infarction (MI). Text message reminders have been shown to improve rates of adherence to medication and exercise, but the existing studies have been of short duration. OBJECTIVE Two single-center randomized controlled pilot trials were conducted to evaluate the impa...