Journal of medical Internet research
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J. Med. Internet Res. · Feb 2019
Randomized Controlled TrialA Smoking Prevention Program Delivered by Medical Students to Secondary Schools in Brazil Called "Education Against Tobacco": Randomized Controlled Trial.
Smoking is the largest preventable cause of mortality in Brazil. Education Against Tobacco (EAT) is a network of more than 3500 medical students and physicians across 14 countries who volunteer for school-based smoking prevention programs. EAT educates 50,000 adolescents per year in the classroom setting. A recent quasi-experimental study conducted in Germany showed that EAT had significant short-term smoking cessation effects among adolescents aged 11 to 15 years. ⋯ To our knowledge, this is the first randomized trial on school-based tobacco prevention in Brazil that shows significant long-term favorable effects. The EAT program encourages quitting and prevents smoking onset, especially among males and students with low educational background.
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J. Med. Internet Res. · Feb 2019
Randomized Controlled TrialCost-Effectiveness of Telemedicine in Remote Orthopedic Consultations: Randomized Controlled Trial.
Telemedicine consultations using real-time videoconferencing has the potential to improve access and quality of care, avoid patient travels, and reduce health care costs. ⋯ This study showed that providing video-assisted orthopedic consultations to a remote clinic in Northern Norway, rather than having patients travel to the specialist hospital for consultations, is cost-effective from both a societal and health sector perspective. This conclusion holds as long as the activity exceeds 151 and 183 patient consultations per year, respectively.
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J. Med. Internet Res. · Jan 2019
Randomized Controlled TrialUse of In-Game Rewards to Motivate Daily Self-Report Compliance: Randomized Controlled Trial.
Encouraging individuals to report daily information such as unpleasant disease symptoms, daily activities and behaviors, or aspects of their physical and emotional state is difficult but necessary for many studies and clinical trials that rely on patient-reported data as primary outcomes. Use of paper diaries is the traditional method of completing daily diaries, but digital surveys are becoming the new standard because of their increased compliance; however, they still fall short of desired compliance levels. ⋯ The Game-Motivated ePRO system encouraged individuals to complete the daily diaries above the compliance rates of the Paper PRO and ePRO without altering the participants' responses.
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J. Med. Internet Res. · Dec 2018
Randomized Controlled TrialContinuous Versus Intermittent Vital Signs Monitoring Using a Wearable, Wireless Patch in Patients Admitted to Surgical Wards: Pilot Cluster Randomized Controlled Trial.
Vital signs monitoring is a universal tool for the detection of postoperative complications; however, unwell patients can be missed between traditional observation rounds. New remote monitoring technologies promise to convey the benefits of continuous monitoring to patients in general wards. ⋯ Remote continuous vital signs monitoring on surgical wards is practical and acceptable to patients. Large, well-controlled studies in high-risk populations are required to determine whether the observed trends translate into a significant benefit for continuous over intermittent monitoring.
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J. Med. Internet Res. · Oct 2018
Randomized Controlled TrialCombining Technology and Research to Prevent Scald Injuries (the Cool Runnings Intervention): Randomized Controlled Trial.
New technologies, internet accessibility, social media, and increased smartphone ownership provide new opportunities for health researchers to communicate and engage target audiences. An innovative burn prevention intervention was developed using these channels. ⋯ Despite substantial loss to follow-up, this RCT demonstrates the Cool Runnings app was an effective intervention for improving knowledge about risks of hot beverage scalds and burn first aid in mothers of young children. The benefits of combining gamification elements in the intervention were also highlighted. Given the low cost and large reach of smartphone apps to deliver content to and engage with targeted populations, the results from this RCT provide important information on how smartphone apps can be used for widespread injury prevention campaigns and public health campaigns generally.