Purpose
As the burden of surgical care and the associated outreach trips to low- and middle-income
countries increases, it is important to collect postoperative data to assess and improve
the quality, safety, and efficacy of the care provided. In this pilot study, we aimed
to evaluate the feasibility of short message service (SMS)-based mobile phone follow
up to obtain patient-reported outcome measures after hand surgery during a surgical
outreach trip to Vietnam.
Methods
Patients undergoing surgery during a week-long outreach trip to Hospital 175 in Ho
Chi Minh City, Vietnam, who owned a mobile phone, were included in this study. Eight
eligible patients elected to participate and were sent an SMS-based, Health Insurance
Portability and Accountability Act-compliant text message with a link to a contextualized
shortened Disabilities of the Arm, Shoulder and Hand questionnaire at 1 day, 1 week,
2 weeks, 4 weeks, and 12 weeks after the surgery. The patient characteristics and
instrument completion rates were reported.
Results
The 8 patients had a mean age of 45.4 years and lived at a mean distance of 72.7 km
from the hospital. Seven (87.5%), 7 (87.5%), 8 (100%), 6 (75%), and 8 (100%) patients
completed the follow-up questionnaires at 1 day, 1 week, 2 weeks, 4 weeks, and 12
weeks after the surgery, respectively.
Conclusions
This pilot study demonstrates that the collection of patient-reported outcome measures
after hand surgery outreach trips to low- and middle-income countries via SMS-based
messaging is feasible for up to 12 weeks after the surgery.
Clinical relevance
Short message service-based messaging can be used to obtain postoperative outcome
measures for up to 12 weeks after surgical outreach trips to low- and middle-income
countries. This technology can be scaled and contextualized based on location to ensure
that patient care during outreach trips is safe and effective.
Key words
To read this article in full you will need to make a payment
Purchase one-time access:
Academic & Personal: 24 hour online accessCorporate R&D Professionals: 24 hour online accessOne-time access price info
- For academic or personal research use, select 'Academic and Personal'
- For corporate R&D use, select 'Corporate R&D Professionals'
Subscribe:
Subscribe to Journal of Hand SurgeryAlready a print subscriber? Claim online access
Already an online subscriber? Sign in
Register: Create an account
Institutional Access: Sign in to ScienceDirect
References
- Global surgery 2030: evidence and solutions for achieving health, welfare, and economic development.The Lancet. 2015; 386: 569-624
- Surgery and global health: a view from beyond the OR.World J Surg. 2008; 32: 533-536
- Fly-by medical care: conceptualizing the global and local social responsibilities of medical tourists and physician voluntourists.Global Health. 2011; 7: 1-4
- Health impact assessment and short-term medical missions: a methods study to evaluate quality of care.BMC Health Serv Res. 2008; 8: 1-8
- Touching Hands–2019 Annual Report.https://www.touchinghands.org/About-Us/Annual-ReportDate accessed: February 4, 2020
- Are American surgical residents prepared for humanitarian deployment?: a comparative analysis of resident and humanitarian case logs.World J Surg. 2018; 42: 32-39
- Integrating patient-reported outcomes into orthopaedic clinical practice: proof of concept from FORCE-TJR.Clin Orthop Relat Res. 2013; 471: 3419-3425
American Academy of Orthopedic Surgeons. American Joint Replacement Registry–Annual Report 2018. https://www.aaos.org/globalassets/registries/aaos-ajrr-2018-annual-ca-supplement-final.pdf. Accessed February 4, 2020.
- What factors are associated with response rates for long-term follow-up questionnaire studies in hand surgery?.Clin Orthop Relat Res. 2020; 478: 2889-2898
- Quality of essential surgical care in low- and middle-income countries: a systematic review of the literature.Int J Qual Health Care. 2019; 31: 166-172
- High-quality health systems in the sustainable development goals era: time for a revolution.Lancet Glob Health. 2018; 6: e1196-e1252
- The feasibility of a randomized controlled trial for open tibial fractures at a regional hospital in Uganda.J Bone Joint Surg Am. 2019; 101: e44
- Measurement of patient reported disability using WHODAS 2.0 before and after surgical intervention in Madagascar.BMC Health Serv Res. 2018; 18: 1-7
- Low infection rates after 34,361 intramedullary nail operations in 55 low- and middle-income countries: validation of the Surgical Implant Generation Network (SIGN) online surgical database.Acta Orthop. 2011; 82: 737-743
- Clinical outcomes and complications of the Surgical Implant Generation Network (SIGN) intramedullary nail: a systematic review and meta-analysis.J Orthop Trauma. 2019; 33: 42-48
- Sustainability assessment of a short-term international medical mission.J Bone Joint Surg Am. 2015; 97: 944-949
- Mobile phone administration of hip-specific patient-reported outcome instruments correlates highly with in-office administration.J Am Acad Orthop Surg. 2020; 28: e41-e46
- Osteoarthritis Index delivered by mobile phone (m-WOMAC) is valid, reliable, and responsive.J Clin Epidemiol. 2011; 64: 182-190
- Delivery of patient-reported outcome instruments by automated mobile phone text messaging.Hand (N Y). 2017; 12: 614-621
- Interventions to improve adherence to antiretroviral therapy: a systematic review and network meta-analysis.Lancet HIV. 2017; 4: e31-e40
- SMS text message reminders to improve infant vaccination coverage in Guatemala: a pilot randomized controlled trial.Vaccine. 2016; 34: 2437-2443
- Telecommunications W ICT facts and figures 2016.https://www.itu.int/en/ITU-D/Statistics/Documents/facts/ICTFactsFigures2016.pdfDate accessed: February 4, 2020
Nielsen. Smartphone Keeps Up the Growth Momentum With Increasing Usage Incidences in Key Cities; Whilst Rural Smartphone Users Reaching Up to 68%. https://www.nielsen.com/wp-content/uploads/sites/3/2019/04/Web_Nielsen_Smartphones20Insights_EN.pdf. Accessed February 4, 2020.
- A patient follow-up program for short-term surgical mission trips to a developing country.J Bone Joint Surg Am. 2016; 98: 226-232
- Context and action in the transformation of the firm.J Manag Stud. 1987; 24: 649-670
- Implementing electronic health records in hospitals: a systematic literature review.BMC Health Serv Res. 2014; 14: 1-24
Article info
Publication history
Published online: June 17, 2021
Accepted:
May 3,
2021
Received:
June 3,
2020
Footnotes
No benefits in any form have been received or will be received related directly or indirectly to the subject of this article.
Identification
Copyright
© 2022 by the American Society for Surgery of the Hand. All rights reserved.
