Improving surgical outpatient efficiency through mobile phone text messaging
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Mark A Corrigan1, Seamus M McHugh, Rory K J Murphy
1Beaumont Hospital, Dublin, Ireland.
Introduction:
Currently, 175,000 people are on outpatient waiting lists in Irish hospitals. Many clinic slots are taken by patients returning for routine review postoperatively.
Methods:
A Nokia mobile phone was used to send an outpatient text (OPT) to patients 2 weeks postdischarge. Patients replying that they were well were discharged. If no reply after 2 attempts was received, they were scheduled for the next outpatient clinic.
Results:
Overall, 55 patients were offered the service over a 4-month period. Of these, 74.5% of patients were discharged from follow-up using text message surveillance. Patients were surveyed regarding their perception of the surveillance model, with all respondents ranking OPT surveillance as their preferred method of follow-up. There was a 13.6% decrease in outpatient visits over the study period. In addition, 6 emergency department visits were also avoided.
Conclusion:
Text message surveillance decreases outpatient waiting times and increases quality of care.
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