“How Are You?” Perspectives of Patients and Healthcare Providers on Using Text-Messaging to Support Care for Patients with Rheumatoid Arthritis
Date
2023-09-14
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Abstract
Objective: Patients with rheumatoid arthritis may need to access rheumatology care between scheduled visits. WelTel is a virtual care platform that supports two-way text-based messaging between patients and their healthcare team. The objective of the present study was to explore perspectives and experiences of healthcare providers (HCPs) and patients regarding the use of text-messaging via WelTel as an adjunct to routine care. Methods: The 6-month WelTel pilot launched in September 2021 with 70 patients enrolled. Patients received monthly “How are you?” text-message check-ins and could message their healthcare team during clinic hours to request health advice. Thirty-nine patients and 21 HCPs were invited to participate in semi-structured interviews. A thematic analysis of transcripts was conducted using a deductive approach leveraging the Institute of Medicine Quality framework. Results: Thirteen patients (61.5% female, mean age 62, 10 white) completed interviews. Patients’ views suggested that text-messaging with the rheumatology team supported high quality care across multiple quality domains including patient-centeredness, timeliness, efficiency, safety, effectiveness, equity, and appropriateness. Seven HCPs (57% female) completed interviews. HCP perspectives varied dependent on whether they were adopters, partial adopters, or non-adopters of the WelTel platform, with more favorable views reported by adopters. Additional themes reported by HCPs included changes in workload and burnout. Conclusions: This foundational work suggests that patients perceive that adjunct text-messaging based care aids in the provision of high-quality care. Future studies should evaluate the impact on HCP workload and burnout and investigate the effect of texting on patient outcomes.
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Keywords
Rheumatology, Text-messaging in healthcare, Quality of care
Citation
Zafar, S. N. (2023). “How are you?” Perspectives of patients and healthcare providers on using text-messaging to support care for patients with rheumatoid arthritis (Master's thesis, University of Calgary, Calgary, Canada). Retrieved from https://prism.ucalgary.ca.