Diabetic patients treated in the emergency department who were then enrolled in a program in which they received automated daily text messages improved their level of control over their diabetes and their medication adherence, according to a study published online in Annals of Emergency Medicine.
Adult patients with poorly controlled diabetes who visited an urban, public emergency department for care received two daily text messages for six months. For patients who received the text messages, blood glucose levels decreased by 1.05 percent and self-reported medication adherence improved from 4.5 to 5.4 (on an eight-point scale).
The proportion of patients who re-visited the emergency department was lower in the text-messaging group (35.9 percent) than in the control group (51.6 percent). Almost all (93.6 percent) patients enrolled in the program reported enjoying it and 100 percent reported that they would recommend it to family and friends.
—Source: Annals of Emergency Medicine; Science Daily
Good Neighbor Pharmacy Health Connection, March 2014
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