ArticleJMIR medical informatics2015
Resident Use of Text Messaging for Patient Care: Ease of Use or Breach of Privacy?
Article in JMIR medical informatics, 2015. The graph could read no effect estimate from its abstract, so it casts no vote on the map. Cited by 16 papers, 1 of them a synthesis that pooled it.
What it found
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The abstract states no effect estimate the extractor could read, or names no intervention and outcome on the map, so this paper lights no cell and moves no belief. It is still indexed, cited and linked below.
The trial behind it
Trials whose registry record cites this paper, or whose number appears in the abstract. A trial that started after this paper was published is citing it as background, not reporting it.
Neither the registry nor the abstract names a trial number. If this is a trial report, that itself is worth knowing.
Who cites it
16 citing papers in PubMed, 1 synthesis or guideline pooled it, 33 citations in OpenAlex.
- The impact of mobile technology on teamwork and communication in hospitals: a systematic review.Journal of the American Medical Informatics Association : JAMIA · 2019Pooled it
- When practice outpaces policy: Whatsapp use among nursing and medical staff in Israeli hospitals.Israel journal of health policy research · 2026Article
- Association Between Conversational Multitasking and Clinician Work Behaviors at a Large US Health Care System: Cohort Study.Journal of medical Internet research · 2025Observational
- Association of EHR-Integrated Secure Messaging Use with Clinician Workload and Attention Switching.Journal of general internal medicine · 2025Article
- Asynchronous Conferencing Through a Secure Messaging Application Increases Reporting of Medical Errors in a Mature Trauma Center.Journal of patient safety and risk management · 2023Article
- Barriers to Adoption of a Secure Text Messaging System: a Qualitative Study of Practicing Clinicians.Journal of general internal medicine · 2023Article
- The Pros and Cons of Use of Handheld Electronic Devices During Ward Rounds and the Impact of the COVID-19 Pandemic.Advances in medical education and practice · 2023Article
- Integrated secure messaging to enhance medical education: a mixed methods study.BMC medical education · 2022Article
- A Novel Approach to Establish and Enhance Event Reporting Systems Among Resident Physicians.AEM education and training · 2021Article
- A Mobile App to Facilitate Socially Distanced Hospital Communication During COVID-19: Implementation Experience.JMIR mHealth and uHealth · 2021Article
- Good News and Bad News About Incentives to Violate the Health Insurance Portability and Accountability Act (HIPAA): Scenario-Based Questionnaire Study.JMIR medical informatics · 2020Article
- Frequent Mobile Electronic Medical Records Users Respond More Quickly to Emergency Department Consultation Requests: Retrospective Quantitative Study.JMIR mHealth and uHealth · 2020Article
- A Bottom-Up Approach to Encouraging Sustained User Adoption of a Secure Text Messaging Application.Applied clinical informatics · 2019Article
- Evaluation of Secure Messaging Applications for a Health Care System: A Case Study.Applied clinical informatics · 2019Article
- Pagers, Smartphones, and HIPAA: Finding the Best Solution for Electronic Communication of Protected Health Information.Journal of medical systems · 2017Article
- Mobile Phone Use in Psychiatry Residents in the United States: Multisite Cross-Sectional Survey Study.JMIR mHealth and uHealth · 2017Article
Corrections and comments
PubMed lists nothing against this paper. Absence here is not a guarantee, only a check that was made.
Authors and funding
4 authors at 4 institutions in 1 country.
Funding
Abstract
backgroundShort message service (SMS) text messaging is an efficient form of communication and pervasive in health care, but may not securely protect patient information. It is unclear if resident providers are aware of the security concerns of SMS text messaging when communicating about patient care.
objectiveWe sought to compare residents' preferences for SMS text messaging compared with other forms of in-hospital communication when considering security versus ease of use.
methodsThis study was a cross-sectional multi-institutional survey of internal medicine residents. Residents ranked different communication modalities based on efficiency, ease of use, and security using a Likert scale. Communication options included telephone, email, hospital paging, and SMS text messaging. Respondents also reported whether they had received confidential patient identifiers through any of these modalities.
resultsSMS text messaging was preferred by 71.7% (94/131) of respondents because of its efficiency and by 79.8% (103/129) of respondents because of its ease of use. For security, 82.5% (104/126) of respondents preferred the hospital paging system, whereas only 20.6% (26/126) of respondents preferred SMS text messaging for secure communication. In all, 70.9% (93/131) of respondents reported having received patient identifiers (first and/or last name), 81.7% (107/131) reported receiving patient initials, and 50.4% (66/131) reported receiving a patient's medical record number through SMS text messages.
conclusionsResidents prefer in-hospital communication through SMS text messaging because of its ease of use and efficiency. Despite security concerns, the majority of residents reported receiving confidential patient information through SMS text messaging. For providers, it is possible that the benefits of improved in-hospital communication with SMS text messaging and the presumed improvement in the coordination and delivery of patient care outweigh security concerns they may have. The tension between the security and convenience of SMS text messaging may represent an educational opportunity to ensure the compliance of mobile technology in the health care setting.
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What OpenQuestion holds
Registered trials
Read under generation 80e0d062 · epoch 390. Bibliography from PubMed, PubMed Central and OpenAlex; grants from NIH RePORTER; trial links from ClinicalTrials.gov; estimates, votes and beliefs from the OpenQuestion graph.