Skip to main content

Thank you for visiting nature.com. You are using a browser version with limited support for CSS. To obtain the best experience, we recommend you use a more up to date browser (or turn off compatibility mode in Internet Explorer). In the meantime, to ensure continued support, we are displaying the site without styles and JavaScript.

  • Original Article
  • Published:

The use of short message services (SMS) to provide medical updating to parents in the NICU

Journal of Perinatology volume 36, pages 739–743 (2016)Cite this article

Subjects

Abstract

Objective:

Premature delivery and prolonged hospitalization of infants in the neonatal intensive care unit (NICU) are very stressful for parents. As technology has advanced, short message services (SMS) have been used increasingly in the medical disciplines. To date, the use of SMS for updating patients and families regarding medical information has not been reported. We implemented the SMS technique to daily update the parents regarding the health status of their preterm infant. The objective of this study was to evaluate the use of SMS technology and to assess its impact on the parents and the nursing staff.

Study Design:

Parents and nurses completed questionnaires at two time periods: pre-SMS implementation (pre-SMSi) and post-SMS implementation (post-SMSi). The parent questionnaires included statements about medical information delivery, communication and trust between parents and medical staff, parental anxiety and overall satisfaction. The nurse questionnaires included statements about the expected and actual impact on their workload.

Results:

Comparison of the parents' responses at the two time periods indicated that in the post-SMSi time period, they felt that the physician was more available when needed (P=0.002), they were more comfortable about approaching the physician (P=0.001) and more satisfied with the medical information provided by the staff (P=0.03). In the post-SMSi period, 78.1% of the nurses noted that the SMS communication is a convenient and user-friendly method.

Conclusions:

SMS updating is an easy and user-friendly technology that enriches the modalities of information delivery to parents of hospitalized preterm infants. It is a complementary and useful tool for encouraging and improving personal communication between parents and medical staff and should be considered part of quality improvement in health care.

This is a preview of subscription content, access via your institution

Access options

Buy this article

  • Purchase on Springer Link
  • Instant access to full article PDF
Buy now

Prices may be subject to local taxes which are calculated during checkout

Similar content being viewed by others

References

  1. Woodward LJ, Bora S, Clark CA, Montgomery-Hönger A, Pritchard VE, Spencer C et al. Very preterm birth: maternal experiences of the neonatal intensive care environment. J Perinatol 2014; 34 (7): 555–561.

    Article  CAS  PubMed  PubMed Central  Google Scholar 

  2. Weis J, Zoffmann V, Egerod I . Enhancing person-centered communication in NICU: a comparative thematic analysis. Nurs Crit Care 2013; 20: 287–298.

    Article  PubMed  Google Scholar 

  3. Peters KL, Rosychuk RJ, Hendson L, Coté JJ, McPherson C, Tyebkhan JM . Improvement of short- and long-term outcomes for very low birth weight infants: Edmonton NIDCAP trial. Pediatrics 2009; 124 (4): 1009–1020.

    Article  PubMed  Google Scholar 

  4. Schoch DE, Lawhon G, Wicker LA, Yecco G . An interdisciplinary multidepartmental educational program toward baby friendly hospital designation. Adv Neonatal Care 2014; 14 (1): 38–43.

    Article  PubMed  Google Scholar 

  5. Kaye LA, Johnson A, O’sullivan D, Degroff S . Text message appointment reminders as a tool to improve PPV show rates in an urban resident clinic. Obstet Gynecol 2014; 123 (Suppl 1): 87S.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  6. Albino S, Tabb KM, Requena D, Egoavil M, Pineros-Leano MF, Zunt JR et al. Perceptions and acceptability of short message services technology to improve treatment adherence amongst tuberculosis patients in Peru: a Focus Group Study. PLoS One 2014; 9 (5): e95770.

    Article  PubMed  PubMed Central  Google Scholar 

  7. Jones KR, Lekhak N, Kaewluang N . Using mobile phones and short message service to deliver self-management interventions for chronic conditions: a meta-review. Worldviews Evid Based Nurs 2014 Apr; 11 (2): 81–88.

    Article  PubMed  Google Scholar 

  8. Bobrow K, Brennan T, Springer D, Levitt NS, Rayner B, Namane M et al. Efficacy of a text messaging (SMS) based intervention for adults with hypertension: protocol for the StAR (SMS Text-message Adherence suppoRt trial) randomised controlled trial. BMC Public Health. 2014; 14: 28.

  9. Conner JM, Nelson EC . Neonatal intensive care: satisfaction measured from a parent's perspective. Pediatrics 1999; 103: 336.

    CAS  PubMed  Google Scholar 

  10. Williams VS, Morlock RJ, Feltner D . Psychometric evaluation of a visual analog scale for the assessment of anxiety. Health Qual Life Outcomes 2010; 8: 57.

    Article  PubMed  PubMed Central  Google Scholar 

  11. Walsh J, Goser L . Development of an innovative NICU teen parent support program one unit's experience. J Perinat Neonatal Nurs 2013; 27 (2): 176–183.

    Article  PubMed  Google Scholar 

  12. Bracht M, O’Leary L, Lee SK, O’Brien K . Implementing family-integrated care in the NICU: a parent education and support program. Adv Neonatal Care 2013; 13 (2): 115–126.

    Article  PubMed  Google Scholar 

  13. Leonard KL . Is patient satisfaction sensitive to changes in the quality of care? An exploitation of the Hawthorne effect. J Health Econ 2008; 27 (2): 444–459.

    Article  PubMed  Google Scholar 

Download references

Author information

Author notes

  1. O Globus and L Leibovitch: These authors contributed equally to this work.

Authors and Affiliations

  1. Department of Neonatology, Edmond & Lily Safra Children Hospital, Sheba Medical Center, Tel-Hashomer, Israel

    O Globus, L Leibovitch, A Maayan-Metzger, I Schushan-Eisen, I Morag, R Mazkereth & T Strauss

  2. Gertner Institute for Epidemiology & Health Policy Research, Sheba Medical Center, Tel-Hashomer, Israel

    S Glasser & G Kaplan

Authors
  1. O Globus
    View author publications

    You can also search for this author in PubMed Google Scholar

  2. L Leibovitch
    View author publications

    You can also search for this author in PubMed Google Scholar

  3. A Maayan-Metzger
    View author publications

    You can also search for this author in PubMed Google Scholar

  4. I Schushan-Eisen
    View author publications

    You can also search for this author in PubMed Google Scholar

  5. I Morag
    View author publications

    You can also search for this author in PubMed Google Scholar

  6. R Mazkereth
    View author publications

    You can also search for this author in PubMed Google Scholar

  7. S Glasser
    View author publications

    You can also search for this author in PubMed Google Scholar

  8. G Kaplan
    View author publications

    You can also search for this author in PubMed Google Scholar

  9. T Strauss
    View author publications

    You can also search for this author in PubMed Google Scholar

Corresponding author

Correspondence to T Strauss.

Ethics declarations

Competing interests

The authors declare no conflict of interest.

Rights and permissions

Reprints and permissions

About this article

Check for updates. Verify currency and authenticity via CrossMark

Cite this article

Globus, O., Leibovitch, L., Maayan-Metzger, A. et al. The use of short message services (SMS) to provide medical updating to parents in the NICU. J Perinatol 36, 739–743 (2016). https://doi.org/10.1038/jp.2016.83

Download citation

  • Received:

  • Revised:

  • Accepted:

  • Published:

  • Issue Date:

  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1038/jp.2016.83

Search

Advanced search

Quick links