Text Messaging, Telephone, or In-Person Outpatient Visit to the Surgical Clinic: A Randomized Trial.

ABSTRACT:

Introduction

Routine outpatient follow-up visits for surgical patients are a source of strain on health-care resources and patients. With the COVID-19 pandemic adding a new urgency to finding the safest follow-up arrangement, text message follow-up might prove an acceptable alternative to a phone call or an in-person clinic visit.

Methods

An open-label, three-arm, parallel randomized trial was conducted. The interventions were traditional in-person appointment, a telephone call, or a text message. The primary outcome was the number of postdischarge complications identified. The secondary outcomes were patient satisfaction with follow-up, future preference, default to follow-up, and preference to receiving medical information by text message.

Results

Two hundred eight

SUBMITTER: Khair A 

PROVIDER: S-EPMC9394432 | biostudies-literature | 2022 Dec

REPOSITORIES: biostudies-literature