Text Messaging Featured Article

When it comes to running a clinical trial, what would you think is one of the most important parts? Probably one of the questions that need to be considered right at the offset is, can you have a clinical trial without patients? It seems that even with the numerous proposed strategies that exist for effective recruitment, it is still a major challenge that cannot be overcome.

A major problem is that using database lists of past trial patients can be time consuming. Another factor to keep in mind is that once you have the list, people need to be contacted and convinced that the clinical study is worth their time and effort. In many cases, due to the large volume, call centers are often used, which can lead to referrals and possibly advertising. This can have a negative effect on the recruitment process.

Is there a solution to this problem? The answer might be a resounding yes! It appears that text messaging has proven itself as an effective means of communication across age groups, genders, ethnicities, locations, religions and more. It seems to work for everyone.

Mosio is a company that has made it its mission to assist health and clinical researchers maximize the power of mobile devices. This is accomplished through the creation of applications that increase patient engagement and improve two-way communications through SMS alerts and surveys.

Mosio recently conducted a text messaging campaign with the results being published in Applied Clinical Trials. Patient enrollment was needed for a vaccine clinical trial, through the use of Mosio’s SMS approach there was a one percent increase in research subjects enrolled for every 1.5 percent increase in text messages sent.

One of the most common ways to reach a person is through email. The popularity of email marketing led to it quickly becoming over populated with spam, which reduced the chance of having that email opened and read. In comparison SMS Marketing is considered to be 99 percent legitimate, with only one percent spam seen in text messaging. A study in August 2014 showed that SMS text messaging has an open rate of about 98 percent compared to a 22 percent email open rate.

Mazen Zari, who is co-founder and acting vice president and director of operations for Johnson County Clin-Trials, a clinical research facility in Lenexa, KS, that operates 10-15 vaccine clinical trials per year, made the following comments, “The minute we sent the texts, we would immediately get a lot of calls. It was not double or triple, but five times the response compared to e-mail. Our enrollment results exceeded the trial sponsor’s expectations. We were initially concerned that patients weren't going to find text messaging useful, but on the contrary, patients really liked it.”

Text messaging seems to have a much greater impact that just about any other form of communication. People tend to immediately open and read a text, while there is no real rush to open an email. This means that it is also an effective way to remind patients of appointments and keeping track of their medication schedule.

Mosio’s CEO and co-founder, Noel Chandler said “This study has demonstrated that text messaging through a strategic and powerful patient engagement platform is an effective tool to engage patients for clinical trial recruitment and enrollment by connecting with participants on the devices they use every day.”

As of the last count, reports indicate that there are somewhere in the neighborhood of seven billion mobile subscribers around the world. That means that there are a lot of people with the capability to receive an SMS text message. In similar fashion that the healthcare industry can use SMS for appointment reminders, which resulted in more patients showing up and on time, other industries can also find it a benefit.

Merchants and retailers can use text messaging to offer their customers special deals. In general, the fact that a greater number of people will read text messages makes it a very efficient way of presenting information in a format that will be seen 98 percent of the time. As long as spam remains out of the equation, SMS can be used as a useful tool in almost any industry.