An average teen sends about 50 text messages a day and more than likely non of them are related to their health. What if your child’s doctor kept in touch with them on a daily basis with messages to remind them about their treatments and support them during their illness? Studies have shown that young patients of many diseases have a hard time adhering to their daily treatments at a rate of approximately four times higher than adults.
A successfull pilot program was just completed that used text messaging to remind young diabetes patients to take their personal treatments. Jennifer Dyer, MD, MPH, an endocrinologist at Nationwide Children’s Hospital developed the program and she found an increase in overall treatment adherence and improved blood glucose levels.
“This form of communication allows for real-time health management which is extremely valuable for patients that suffer from a chronic illness like diabetes,” said Dr. Dyer.
In this program, Dr. Dyer would send personalized questions and reminders specific to the patient. She would also include supportive messages to keep their spirits up. This program was so successful that Dr. Dyer has started to develop in iPhone application to help all endocrinologists support their patients in this way.
“If adolescent diabetes patients do not adhere to their treatment and medication plan, it can result in difficulty concentrating in school or functioning throughout the day,” said Dr. Dyer, also an assistant professor of Pediatrics at The Ohio State University College of Medicine. “Excellent control and treatment can have a long term positive effect on a patient with diabetes.”
This is absolutely brilliant. A doctor taking personal interest in a patient and staying in touch to answer any day-to-day questions. So far this is only for young diabetes patients but once the results are shown on a greater scale I am sure other illnesses will be fought in the same manner. Who better to start it on than the young patients who already keep this technology with them 24/7? Get them in the right habits early and their treatment will be more successful. Let’s hope more doctors start to utilize these methods.
