Journal of medical Internet research
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J. Med. Internet Res. · Jan 2013
Use of a text message-based pharmacovigilance tool in Cambodia: pilot study.
There is no functional pharmacovigilance system in Cambodia to our knowledge. Mobile phone-based tools, such as short message service (SMS) text messages, are increasingly used for surveillance purposes. ⋯ Notification using an SMS-based text message system is already used in Cambodia for syndromic surveillance in health centers and reporting by health care workers. Our results show that such tools can also be useful for notification by patients or health users in Cambodia, especially in an urban setting.
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J. Med. Internet Res. · Jan 2013
Assessing adolescent asthma symptoms and adherence using mobile phones.
Self-report is the most common method of measuring medication adherence but is influenced by recall error and response bias, and it typically does not provide insight into the causes of poor adherence. Ecological momentary assessment (EMA) of health behaviors using mobile phones offers a promising alternative to assessing adherence and collecting related data that can be clinically useful for adherence problem solving. ⋯ Mobile phones provided a feasible method to assess asthma symptoms and adherence in adolescents. The EMA method was consistent with the ACT, a widely established measure of asthma control, and results provided valuable insights regarding the context of adherence decision making that could be used clinically for problem solving or as feedback to adolescents in a mobile or Web-based support system.
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J. Med. Internet Res. · Jan 2013
Effects of an individually tailored Web-based chronic pain management program on pain severity, psychological health, and functioning.
It is estimated that 30% of adults in the United States experience daily chronic pain. This results in a significant burden on the health care system, in particular primary care, and on the workplace. Chronic pain management with cognitive-behavioral psychological treatment is effective in reducing pain intensity and interference, health-related quality of life, mood, and return to work. However, the population of individuals with chronic pain far exceeds the population of therapists that can provide this care face-to-face. The use of tailored, Web-based interventions for the management of chronic pain could address limitations to access by virtue of its unlimited scalability. ⋯ Results suggest that the tailored online chronic pain management program showed promising effects on pain at 1 and 6 months posttreatment and quality of life at 6 months posttreatment in this naturalistic study. Further research is warranted to determine the significance and magnitude of the intervention's effects in a randomized controlled trial.
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J. Med. Internet Res. · Jan 2013
Interactive algorithms for teaching and learning acute medicine in the network of medical faculties MEFANET.
Medical Faculties Network (MEFANET) has established itself as the authority for setting standards for medical educators in the Czech Republic and Slovakia, 2 independent countries with similar languages that once comprised a federation and that still retain the same curricular structure for medical education. One of the basic goals of the network is to advance medical teaching and learning with the use of modern information and communication technologies. ⋯ The peer-reviewed algorithms were used for conducting problem-based learning sessions in general medicine (first aid, anesthesiology and pain management, emergency medicine) and in nursing (emergency medicine for midwives, obstetric analgesia, and anesthesia for midwifes). The feedback from the survey suggests that the students found the interactive algorithms as effective learning tools, facilitating enhanced knowledge in the field of acute medicine. The interactive algorithms, as a software platform, are open to academic use worldwide. The existing algorithms, in the form of simulation-based learning objects, can be incorporated into any educational website (subject to the approval of the authors).
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J. Med. Internet Res. · Jan 2013
Attrition revisited: adherence and retention in a web-based alcohol trial.
Attrition is a noted feature of eHealth interventions and trials. In 2005, Eysenbach published a landmark paper calling for a "science of attrition," suggesting that the 2 forms of attrition--nonusage attrition (low adherence to the intervention) and dropout attrition (poor retention to follow-up)--may be related and that this potential relationship deserved further study. ⋯ In this dataset, adherence and retention were related in a complex fashion. We propose a possible explanatory model for these data.