ArticleThe British journal of general practice : the journal of the Royal College of General Practitioners2018
Acceptability of text messages for safety netting patients with low-risk cancer symptoms: a qualitative study.
Article in The British journal of general practice : the journal of the Royal College of General Practitioners, 2018. The graph could read no effect estimate from its abstract, so it casts no vote on the map. Cited by 14 papers.
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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.
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Who cites it
14 citing papers in PubMed, 24 citations in OpenAlex.
- Using an SMS to improve bowel cancer screening: the acceptability and feasibility of a multifaceted intervention.Family practice · 2025Trial
- Safety-netting advice documentation in out-of-hours primary care: a retrospective cohort from 2013 to 2020.The British journal of general practice : the journal of the Royal College of General Practitioners · 2025Article
- Patient preferences for investigating cancer-related symptoms in Australian general practice: a discrete-choice experiment.The British journal of general practice : the journal of the Royal College of General Practitioners · 2024Article
- Transforming post pandemic cancer services.British journal of cancer · 2024Review
- Electronic safety-netting tool features considered important by UK general practice staff: an interview and Delphi consensus study.BJGP open · 2023Article
- SAFETY NETTING CONCEPT IN PRIMARY CARE CONSULTATION.Annals of Ibadan postgraduate medicine · 2023Article
- Harnessing the Electronic Health Care Record to Optimize Patient Safety in Primary Care: Framework for Evaluating e-Safety-Netting Tools.JMIR medical informatics · 2022Article
- Optimising GPs' communication of advice to facilitate patients' self-care and prompt follow-up when the diagnosis is uncertain: a realist review of 'safety-netting' in primary care.BMJ quality & safety · 2022Review
- Healthcare practices that increase the quality of care in cancer trajectories from a general practice perspective: a scoping review.Scandinavian journal of primary health care · 2022Article
- Interventions to improve early cancer diagnosis of symptomatic individuals: a scoping review.BMJ open · 2021Article
- Factors affecting the documentation of spoken safety-netting advice in routine GP consultations: a cross-sectional study.The British journal of general practice : the journal of the Royal College of General Practitioners · 2021Article
- Development of a tool for coding safety-netting behaviours in primary care: a mixed-methods study using existing UK consultation recordings.The British journal of general practice : the journal of the Royal College of General Practitioners · 2019Article
- Safety netting for primary care: evidence from a literature review.The British journal of general practice : the journal of the Royal College of General Practitioners · 2019Review
- Safety netting: now doctors need it too.The British journal of general practice : the journal of the Royal College of General Practitioners · 2018Article
Corrections and comments
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Authors and funding
2 authors at 2 institutions in 1 country.
Funding
Abstract
backgroundSafety netting is an important diagnostic strategy for patients presenting to primary care with potential (low-risk) cancer symptoms. Typically, this involves asking patients to return if symptoms persist. However, this relies on patients re-appraising their symptoms and making follow-up appointments, which could contribute to delays in diagnosis. Text messaging is increasingly used in primary care to communicate with patients, and could be used to improve safety netting.
aimTo explore the acceptability and feasibility of using text messages to safety net patients presenting with low-risk cancer symptoms in GP primary care (txt-netting). DESIGN AND
settingQualitative focus group and interview study with London-based GPs.
methodParticipants were identified using convenience sampling methods. Five focus groups and two interviews were conducted with 22 GPs between August and December 2016. Sessions were audiorecorded, transcribed verbatim, and analysed using thematic analysis.
resultsGPs were amenable to the concept of using text messages in cancer safety netting, identifying it as an additional tool that could help manage patients and promote symptom awareness. There was wide variation in GP preferences for text message content, and a number of important potential barriers to txt-netting were identified. Concerns were raised about the difficulties of conveying complex safety netting advice within the constraints of a text message, and about confidentiality, widening inequalities, and workload implications.
conclusionText messages were perceived to be an acceptable potential strategy for safety netting patients with low-risk cancer symptoms. Further work is needed to ensure it is cost-effective, user friendly, confidential, and acceptable to patients.
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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.