Given that texting is the most widely used mobile data service and healthcare workers are among the biggest users of mobile technology, it may seem natural for its use to be extended into the physician-patient relationship.
But some experts say it is more complex than sending and responding to 160 character messages.
Jonathan D. Linkous, CEO of the American Telemedicine Association, a not-for-profit resource and advocacy group for telecommunications technology, says based on anecdotal evidence the use of text messaging for doctor-patient communications is increasing.
Linkous attributes the increase to the “wider acceptance of text messaging by the population, its ease of use with the new mobile devices that incorporate a full keypad and the plans that allow unlimited text messaging.”
“I think the Obama campaign raised awareness about SMS [short message service] technology and Twitter has helped to really inspire this,” said Rosina Samadani, founder of Truth on Call, a service that poses questions from organizations to physicians, via text messages Linkous says ATA does not track doctors’ use of text messaging because most payers do not reimburse texting. He says the organization is in the process of developing some guidelines for the appropriate use of text messaging between patients and physicians, which he expects will be available later this year.
“Within the last seven years there has been an appropriate clampdown on access to physicians,” said Samadani. “This is a good thing. Their availability should be protected, and yet we need their input.” She says her service is the answer to this dilemma.
The service is for anybody who needs a collective opinion from physicians, said Samadani. Pharmacies, manufacturers, news networks and healthcare purchasers are some examples of who are using the service, which was launched last January.
But she says having the service extended to patients is “not in her plans.”
Text messaging is difficult to control with patients, and is a difficult way for physicians to give patients advice, said Samadani.
Truth on Call has “implications for the future of healthcare, that even I don’t understand,” she says.
BJ Fogg, director of the Stanford Persuasive technology Lab, is dedicated to uncovering the implications mobile technology has on the health behaviors of everyday people. He is holding a two-day conference called Mobile Health 2010 at Stanford University on May 24 and 25.
The goal, he says, is to get people together to “foster conversation and relationships that will lead to important collaborations.”
Government and industry leaders will use the event as a platform to collaborate on short message service (SMS) campaigns that bring together government agencies, healthcare providers and wireless carriers.
Conference attendees will also be discussing the role of mobile technology in providing timely healthcare information for emergency situations, healthcare epidemics like the H1N1 flu, and in targeting populations with HIV and sexual health information.
