Skip to main page content
U.S. flag

An official website of the United States government

Dot gov

The .gov means it’s official.
Federal government websites often end in .gov or .mil. Before sharing sensitive information, make sure you’re on a federal government site.

Https

The site is secure.
The https:// ensures that you are connecting to the official website and that any information you provide is encrypted and transmitted securely.

Access keys NCBI Homepage MyNCBI Homepage Main Content Main Navigation
. 2019 Jun 28;4(4):383-386.
doi: 10.1002/lio2.287. eCollection 2019 Aug.

Role of mobile health on patient enrollment for cleft lip-palate surgery: A comparative study using SMS blast text messaging in zimbabwe

Shekhar K Gadkaree  1 , Travis T Tollefson  2 , Jennifer C Fuller  1 , Faith C Muchemwa  2 , Aleck Gonga  3 , David A Shaye  1
Affiliations

Role of mobile health on patient enrollment for cleft lip-palate surgery: A comparative study using SMS blast text messaging in zimbabwe

Shekhar K Gadkaree et al. Laryngoscope Investig Otolaryngol. .

Abstract

Background: Patients' lack of awareness of available services is a significant barrier to delivering surgical care in resource-limited settings. Short message service (SMS) text messaging is a potential means to disseminate this information in resource-limited settings, where rates of mobile phone usage are high.

Methods: A blast SMS text informing local populations of upcoming cleft lip-palate (CLP) surgical services was distributed to 25% of the subscriber base 1 week prior to arrival of a (CLP) surgical team in Zimbabwe. A retrospective cohort analysis comparing characteristics of patients presenting to the CLP clinic in the year prior to (2016) and 2 years following (2017-2018) the implementation of the blast SMS text messaging system is performed to assess its impact.

Results: Patients presenting to a single Zimbabwean CLP surgical program in the years with SMS messaging notifications were significantly more likely (52 [64%] vs. 5 [17%], P < .001) to have been informed of surgical services through their mobile phones. The average distance traveled per patient was not significantly different prior to implementation of mass text messaging (180.4 km [SD114.8] vs. 167.4 km [SD105.9], P = .580). The average patient age was significantly higher following the implementation of mass text messaging (7.4 [SD8.7] vs. 3.0 [SD2.8] years, P = .010).

Conclusions: SMS messaging is an effective method of informing patients of CLP surgical services in resource-limited settings. After implementation of SMS text notifications, surgical patients were of increased age, but showed no difference in distance traveled.

Level of evidence: IV.

Keywords: Global health; cleft lip and palate; global surgery; mhealth; mobile health; text messaging.

PubMed Disclaimer

Figures

Figure 1
Figure 1
Mobile phone penetrance by country income classification. Mobile phone penetrance in both low‐ and high‐income countries has drastically increased over the past two decades. Data originally obtained for analysis from The World Bank.
See this image and copyright information in PMC

References

    1. Grimes CE, Bowman KG, Dodgion CM, Lavy CBD. Systematic review of barriers to surgical care in low‐income and middle‐income countries. World J Surg 2011;35(5):941–950. - PubMed
    1. Swanson JW, Yao CA, Auslander A, et al. Patient barriers to accessing surgical cleft care in Vietnam: a multi‐site, cross‐sectional outcomes study. World J Surg 2017;41(6):1435–1446. - PubMed
    1. Ojabo CO, Alao O. Cataract surgery: limitations and barriers in Makurdi, Benue State. Niger J Med 2009;18(3):250–255. - PubMed
    1. Hsia RY, Mbembati NA, Macfarlane S, Kruk ME. Access to emergency and surgical care in sub‐Saharan Africa: the infrastructure gap. Health Policy Plan 2012;27(3):234–244. - PubMed
    1. Increasing access to surgical services in sub‐Saharan Africa: priorities for national and international agencies recommended by the Bellagio Essential Surgery Group. Available at: http://journals.plos.org/plosmedicine/article?id=10.1371/journal.pmed.10.... Accessed February 19, 2018. - PMC - PubMed