The Utility of a SMS Text Messaging Platform to Support Children and Families After Cardiac Surgery

Patients and families require ancillary support from healthcare providers (HCPs) after discharge from cardiac surgery. Digital technology can help provide access to this support. We explored the utility of an short message service (SMS) text messaging platform (WelTel) in our pediatric cardiac surgical program. Patients scheduled for cardiac surgery between January 1 and November 15, 2023 were offered WelTel. Parents or adolescents were enrolled on the platform from pre-surgical to post-surgical visits (approximately 4-6 weeks). Participants received a weekly automated message asking, "How are you?" and could ask any non-emergency health-related question. HCPs responded within 48 business hours. Participants were asked to direct all urgent concerns to the on-call team. Participants completed a post-intervention survey. One hundred and five participants (102 parents, 3 adolescents) consented, 99/105 (94%) participants (96 parents, 3 adolescents) completed the study. Weekly response rate was 61% (388/641) with 2,872 text messages exchanged. There were 316 care conversations: 158/316 (50%) had no concerns; 107/316 (34%) had health concerns; 34/316 (11%) had administrative questions; and 17/316 (5%) had medication/prescription refill questions. Specific health concerns were focused on post-surgical symptoms in 46/107 (43%) and surgical wound healing in 36/107 (34%) patients. The parental post-intervention survey response rate was 81% (78/96): 64/78 (82%) found it helpful to text their child's HCPs and 57/78 (73%) felt better connected to their child's HCPs. The WelTel SMS text messaging platform was acceptable for families and facilitated communication with their child's HCPs about non-emergent concerns following pediatric cardiac surgery.