To Text or Not to Text? That is the Question.

Texting is ubiquitous with a text frequency of 145 billion/day worldwide. This paper provides partial results of the national demonstration project called the Missouri Quality Improvement Initiative (MOQI). MOQI goals were to reduce avoidable hospitalizations using APRNs to infuse evidence-based practices, model appropriate decisions and improve communication among workers responsible for nursing home resident care. This is a retrospective content analysis of text messages sent and received via a secure, password protected, encrypted mobile text message platform called Mediprocity. Text messages were created by 15 APRNs and a PhD-RN project supervisor working in 16 nursing homes over 6 months (January 1-June 30 2018). During the 6 months of data collection 8,946 text messages were captured, coded and analyzed. Data included 1,018 sent messages and 7,928 received messages. The most common messages sent (n=324) and received (n=2319) were about patient updates. The second most common texts included messages confirming information (n=1312).