Background: Mobile health (mHealth) is quickly expanding as a method of health promotion, but some interventions may not be familiar or comfortable for potential users. SMS text messaging has been investigated as a low-cost, accessible way to provide vaccine reminders. Most (97%) US adults own a cellphone and of those adults most use SMS text messaging.
View Article and Find Full Text PDFBackground: Text messages can be an effective and low-cost mechanism for patient reminders; however, they are yet to be consistently integrated into pediatric primary care.
Objective: The aim of this study was to explore pediatric primary care clinician and staff perceptions of pediatric office text message communication with families.
Methods: As part of the National Institutes of Health-funded Flu2Text randomized controlled trial of second-dose influenza vaccine text message reminders, we conducted 7 focus groups and 4 individual interviews in July-August 2019 with primary care pediatric clinicians and staff ( = 39).
Background And Objectives: Among children requiring 2 influenza doses in a given season, second dose receipt nearly halves the odds of influenza. Nationally, many children do not receive both needed doses. This study sought to compare the effectiveness of text message reminders with embedded interactive educational information versus usual care on receipt and timeliness of the second dose of influenza vaccine.
View Article and Find Full Text PDFManagement of overweight in young children may be our best opportunity for confronting the nationwide epidemic of childhood obesity. Doing so will require all health care providers to improve their identification, assessment, and guidance on this issue. As a group, we must make it a priority to obtain height and weight measurements on every child and to interpret them correctly.
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