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Review
. 2017 Aug;65(8):372-378.
doi: 10.1177/2165079916672479. Epub 2016 Dec 2.

An Integrative Review of Text Message Reminders for Medical Surveillance Examinations

Tammy Lockhart  1 , Gordon Lee Gillespie  1 , Valorie Grant  1
Affiliations
Review

An Integrative Review of Text Message Reminders for Medical Surveillance Examinations

Tammy Lockhart et al. Workplace Health Saf. 2017 Aug.

Abstract

The purpose of this integrative review was to evaluate the use of text message (TM) reminders to promote timely medical surveillance examinations (MSEs). Notifying employees of scheduled MSE appointments is challenging. Text messaging can be used by occupational health nurses to remind employees of needed examinations. SCOPUS was searched for relevant studies between 2005 and 2015, resulting in nine articles meeting inclusion criteria. Seven of the nine articles reported significant improvement in attendance rates, with one study demonstrating no-show rates could be reduced by 51% using TM reminders. This integrative review demonstrated that text messaging appointment reminders for MSEs could be effective.

Keywords: appointment reminders; text message.

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Figures

Figure 1.
Figure 1.
Search strategy for inclusion/exclusion criteria for articles included in this review
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