Use of Text Messages to Improve Care For Children Following an ED Visit for Asthma

Status unconfirmed · Not applicable

Conditions studied: Asthma

In brief

BACKGROUND Asthma is a prevalent and troublesome pediatric condition. In 2013, Emergency Department (ED) providers treated over 3,500 cases of asthma-related complaints at Children's Hospitals and Clinics of Minnesota. Pediatric ED visits for asthma exceeds billions of dollars annually when including direct cost and lost productivity. Many of these visits and resultant costs are avoidable. Patients with well-controlled asthma do not typically exhibit these patterns, while patients with poorly controlled asthma show patterns of increased utilization of healthcare resources and lower quality of life. Evidence suggests that a text message reminder and educational program might positively influence pediatric asthma care practices. RESEARCH QUESTION Does a targeted ED based text message intervention program improve outpatient follow-up and routine preventive care in pediatric asthma patients? METHODS Study subjects will be block randomized based on age and insurance group. The experimental group will receive text messages with guidance towards follow-up care with their PCP and the importance of the flu vaccine for children with asthma. The control group will receive a series of educational self-care and health based text messages unrelated to asthma or the flu vaccine. Some self-report of behaviors will be captured via text message response. ANALYSIS Primary outcomes for the educational versus targeted text message groups will be compared use Chi-square tests. Additional adjustments may be applied for missing data or if, despite randomization, there is substantial imbalance between group in key covariates (eg race/ethnicity, insurance type or asthma severity.)

Key facts

Study ID

NCT02436070

Run by

Children's Hospitals and Clinics of Minnesota

People needed

195

Starts

2014-10-01

Expected to finish

2018-12-01

Last updated by the study team

2017-11-22

Who can join

Age: 4 and older, up to 17. Sex: any. Healthy volunteers: not accepted.

You may qualify if…

• Caregivers of patients aged 4 - 17 years (inclusive) will be eligible for study participation if they meet the following criteria:
• Presentation to the ED with a chief complaint related to an asthma exacerbation such as shortness of breath, respiratory distress, wheezing, etc…
• Receive an albuterol treatment in the ED
• Previous history of asthma as represented in the medical record or by parental report
• Have a cell phone that is able to receive text messages
• Able to communicate and provide consent in English or Spanish

You may not qualify if…

• Caregivers of patients will be excluded from this study for the following reasons:
• First episode of wheezing
• Admitted to the hospital
• Co-morbid respiratory disease:
• Cystic fibrosis
• Bronchiectasis
• Pulmonary hypertension
• Other chronic lung disease
• Current cancer diagnosis
• Previous cardiovascular surgery
• Inflammatory bowel disease
• Sickle Cell disease

Where it is running

• Children's Hospitals and Clinics of Minnesota - Emergency Department — Minneapolis, Minnesota, United States (enrolling)
• Children's Minnesota — Saint Paul, Minnesota, United States (enrolling)

Full record on ClinicalTrials.gov

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