Text Messages as Reminders to Take Medicines

Text messages look like an effective way in the short term of reminding affected individuals living with chronic disease to take their treatment, in accordance with a recent review.

However, the scientists also said it was vital that you look at the longer-term consequences because affected individuals who are adherent to start with can be non-adherent over time and automatic reminders can be a regular, leading to habituation.

Electronic alerts — text messages, audiovisual alerts from electronic devices and pagers — did look like helpful in the short term for affected individuals with permanent conditions, and such approach ended up being both easy for medical professionals and affected individuals to get, said the Dutch researchers following their complete information about the literature.

“Reminders might be especially utilized to modify the activity of… patients that are willing to take their own medication, but who forget it or are incorrect.” They could also provide the answer for people who deliberately don't take their own prescribed medication, “by forcing the benefit of a typical intake in the message”.