Susan Lou, Morgan Freeman, Nicha Wongjarupong, Anders Westanmo, Amy Gravely, Shahnaz Sultan, Aasma Shaukat
{"title":"A Novel Text Message Protocol to Improve Bowel Preparation for Outpatient Colonoscopies in Veterans.","authors":"Susan Lou, Morgan Freeman, Nicha Wongjarupong, Anders Westanmo, Amy Gravely, Shahnaz Sultan, Aasma Shaukat","doi":"10.12788/fp.0329","DOIUrl":null,"url":null,"abstract":"<p><strong>Background: </strong>The current gold standard for screening for colorectal cancer is colonoscopy, a procedure that depends on the quality of bowel preparation. In 2016, the Veterans Health Administration introduced Annie, a text message service to improve health care communication with patients. The Minneapolis Veterans Affairs Medical Center conducted a prospective, single center study to measure the impact of Annie text messaging on patient satisfaction and quality of bowel preparation for patients undergoing outpatient colonoscopy.</p><p><strong>Methods: </strong>Patients undergoing colonoscopy were divided into 2 groups. The control group received standardized patient education and a phone call prior to procedure. The intervention group, consisting of all patients who agreed to enroll, received a 6-day Annie text messaging protocol consisting of key bowel preparation steps that started 5 days prior to their scheduled procedure. Bowel preparation quality was measured using the Boston Bowel Preparation Scale (BBPS) score.</p><p><strong>Results: </strong>During the study period, 688 veterans were scheduled for outpatient colonoscopy: 484 veterans were in the control group, 204 veterans were in the intervention group, and 126 were surveyed. Annie text messaging instructions were associated with a higher BBPS score (8.2) compared with usual care (7.8); <i>P</i> = .007 using independent <i>t</i> test, and <i>P</i> = .002 using parametric independent <i>t</i> test. Patients also reported satisfaction with the Annie text messaging service.</p><p><strong>Conclusions: </strong>There was a statistically significant improvement in the average BBPS score in veterans receiving Annie text messages compared with the routine care control group for outpatient colonoscopies.</p>","PeriodicalId":73021,"journal":{"name":"Federal practitioner : for the health care professionals of the VA, DoD, and PHS","volume":"39 12","pages":"470-475"},"PeriodicalIF":0.0000,"publicationDate":"2022-12-01","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC10071445/pdf/fp-39-12-470.pdf","citationCount":"0","resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":null,"PeriodicalName":"Federal practitioner : for the health care professionals of the VA, DoD, and PHS","FirstCategoryId":"1085","ListUrlMain":"https://doi.org/10.12788/fp.0329","RegionNum":0,"RegionCategory":null,"ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":null,"EPubDate":"","PubModel":"","JCR":"","JCRName":"","Score":null,"Total":0}
引用次数: 0
Abstract
Background: The current gold standard for screening for colorectal cancer is colonoscopy, a procedure that depends on the quality of bowel preparation. In 2016, the Veterans Health Administration introduced Annie, a text message service to improve health care communication with patients. The Minneapolis Veterans Affairs Medical Center conducted a prospective, single center study to measure the impact of Annie text messaging on patient satisfaction and quality of bowel preparation for patients undergoing outpatient colonoscopy.
Methods: Patients undergoing colonoscopy were divided into 2 groups. The control group received standardized patient education and a phone call prior to procedure. The intervention group, consisting of all patients who agreed to enroll, received a 6-day Annie text messaging protocol consisting of key bowel preparation steps that started 5 days prior to their scheduled procedure. Bowel preparation quality was measured using the Boston Bowel Preparation Scale (BBPS) score.
Results: During the study period, 688 veterans were scheduled for outpatient colonoscopy: 484 veterans were in the control group, 204 veterans were in the intervention group, and 126 were surveyed. Annie text messaging instructions were associated with a higher BBPS score (8.2) compared with usual care (7.8); P = .007 using independent t test, and P = .002 using parametric independent t test. Patients also reported satisfaction with the Annie text messaging service.
Conclusions: There was a statistically significant improvement in the average BBPS score in veterans receiving Annie text messages compared with the routine care control group for outpatient colonoscopies.