Got the Message: Texting vs Talking

Purpose:
The purpose of this study is to explore staff perceptions of receiving non emergent information by texting in the medical surgical setting and to explore whether texting of non emergent information will decrease total time of interruptions as compared to phone call interruptions.

Background/Significance:
Currently our nurses are using Ascom phones for communicating with other healthcare providers. Ascom phones are individually assigned per shift and are used only to receive and make calls. The Ascom phone have the capability to receive and send text messaging but the feature is not currently being used. We wanted to use the technology already available to see if texting will decrease total time of interruptions of nonemergent information as compared to phone call interruptions.

Methods:
Study participants were recruited for a period of 1 week. Staff participants completed the Perceptions of Texting Non-emergent Information Survey. A comparative experimental design using time and motion survey was conducted on a weekday shift during the hours of 8am to 2pm. Participants were randomly assigned into two groups. The experimental group received all nonemergent information through text messaging and the control group received information through a standard phone call. The key personnel observed the participants during that time frame and recorded the method of communication, start & stop time of the text/call, the total time of the text/call, the reason and nurses' activity.

Results:
Twenty nine nurses participated in the survey. The majority were female(69%) and male(31%). The majority of nurses(62%) preferred to receive nonemergent information by text however, less than half(47%) felt comfortable texting. An independent samples t-test was conducted to compare the mean total time of interruptions for phone calls and texting. We found that there was a statistically significant difference in time between phone calls (M=36.41, SD=51.53) and texting (M=2.81,SD=1.79), t(219.48)=9.63, p<.001(two-tailed).The most frequent reason for receiving a text or a call was to receive patient information(47%)and nurses' activity frequently occured during medication administation(31%).

Conclusions and Implications for Practice:
Text messaging non emergent information reduce interruptions rather than phone calls. We also found that during medication administration most of text/call are sent to nurses. We have promoted patient safety and improve patient quality outcomes at the same time increased patient satisfaction.