SMS alerts up vaccine rates

WITH seasonal influenza vaccine recommended and funded for groups at higher risk of serious infection, it is unfortunate that uptake is suboptimal, but there is light at the end of the tunnel, acording to West Australian researchers published in the Annals of Family Medicine.

They conducted a randomized controlled trial of short message service (SMS) reminders for influenza vaccination revealing that SMS reminders were a “modestly effective, low-cost means to increase seasonal influenza vaccine coverage among high-risk patients”.

Six weeks after seasonal influenza vaccinations began, the scientific group identified high-risk patients who had a mobile telephone number on record at 10 practices in Western Australia.

Of the 12,354 eligible patients at each practice one-half were randomly assigned to receive a vaccination reminder by SMS (intervention) and the rest received no SMS (control).

Vaccination data were extracted from the patients’ electronic medical records to be analysed. The greatest impact was reported among children under five years of age because their parents were more than twice as likely to have their child vaccinated if they received a text message reminder. Analysis revealed that for every 29 reminder text messages sent, one extra high-risk patient was immunised, providing a scientific patient-centred basis for vaccinators to use this communicaiton means to increase vaccination rates in Australia.

Access the study in full at annfammed.org.