Journal article
Communication with Orthopedic Trauma Patients via an Automated Mobile Phone Messaging Robot
Telemedicine journal and e-health, Vol.24(7), pp.54-509
07/01/2018
DOI: 10.1089/tmj.2017.0188
PMID: 29261036
Abstract
Background:
Communication with orthopedic trauma patients is traditionally problematic with low response rates (RRs). The purpose of this investigation was to (1) evaluate the feasibility of communicating with orthopedic trauma patients postoperatively, utilizing an automated mobile phone messaging platform; and (2) assess the first 2 weeks of postoperative patient-reported pain and opioid use after lower extremity orthopedic trauma procedures.
Materials and Methods:
This was a prospective investigation at a Level 1 trauma center in the United States. Adult patients who were capable of mobile phone messaging and were undergoing common, lower extremity orthopedic trauma procedures were enrolled in the study. Patients received a daily mobile phone message protocol inquiring about their current pain level and amount of opioid medication they had taken in the past 24 h starting on postoperative day (POD) 3 and continuing through POD 17. Our analysis considered (1) Patient completion rate of mobile phone questions, (2) Patient-reported pain level (0–10 scale), and (3) Number and percentage of daily prescribed opioid medication patients reported taking.
Results:
Twenty-five patients were enrolled in this investigation. Patients responded to 87.5% of the pain and opioid medication inquiries they received over the 2-week study period. There were no differences in RRs by patient age, sex, or educational attainment. Patient-reported pain decreased over the initial 2-week study period from an average of 4.9 ± 1.7 on POD 3 to 3 ± 2.2 on POD 16–17. Patients took an average of 68% of their maximum daily narcotic prescription on POD 3 compared with 35% of their prescribed pain medication on POD 16–17.
Conclusions:
We found that in orthopedic trauma patients, an automated mobile phone messaging platform elicited a high patient RR that improved upon prior methods in the literature. This method may be used to reliably obtain pain and medication utilization data after trauma procedures.
Details
- Title: Subtitle
- Communication with Orthopedic Trauma Patients via an Automated Mobile Phone Messaging Robot
- Creators
- Chris A Anthony - 1Department of Orthopedic Surgery and Rehabilitation, University of Iowa Hospitals and Clinics, Iowa City, IowaAlexander Volkmar - 1Department of Orthopedic Surgery and Rehabilitation, University of Iowa Hospitals and Clinics, Iowa City, IowaApurva S Shah - 2Division of Orthopedic Surgery, The Children's Hospital of Philadelphia, Philadelphia, PennsylvaniaMike Willey - 1Department of Orthopedic Surgery and Rehabilitation, University of Iowa Hospitals and Clinics, Iowa City, IowaMatt Karam - 1Department of Orthopedic Surgery and Rehabilitation, University of Iowa Hospitals and Clinics, Iowa City, IowaJ. Lawrence Marsh - 1Department of Orthopedic Surgery and Rehabilitation, University of Iowa Hospitals and Clinics, Iowa City, Iowa
- Resource Type
- Journal article
- Publication Details
- Telemedicine journal and e-health, Vol.24(7), pp.54-509
- DOI
- 10.1089/tmj.2017.0188
- PMID
- 29261036
- NLM abbreviation
- Telemed J E Health
- ISSN
- 1530-5627
- eISSN
- 1556-3669
- Publisher
- Mary Ann Liebert, Inc
- Language
- English
- Date published
- 07/01/2018
- Academic Unit
- Orthopedics and Rehabilitation; Injury Prevention Research Center
- Record Identifier
- 9984040287202771
Metrics
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