Using electronic reminders like text messages, emails and voicemails can help patients adhere to pre-surgery recommendations and thus reduce the risk of surgical site infections, according to a study in the Journal of the American College of Surgeons.
Clinicians generally recommend that surgical patients shower with chlorhexidine gluconate prior to being admitted for surgery. CHG helps reduce the microbial burden on patients' skin, lessening the risk of wound contamination.
"In general, getting patients to comply with this preadmission cleansing strategy is a challenge throughout healthcare," said lead study author Charles Edmiston, PhD, a professor of surgery and hospital epidemiologist at the Medical College of Wisconsin in Milwaukee, in a news release. "So, that's why we looked to new technology for a solution. When you use a prompt like texting or emailing, you make the patient an intimate partner in the healthcare process."
Researchers took a group of 80 healthy volunteers and placed them in four skin-antiseptic showering groups. Group A volunteers were to take two showers, and group B members were to take three showers. Group A1 and group B1 were prompted to shower via an electronic alert, while groups A2 and B2 were not prompted.
Researchers measured volunteers' compliance by examining skin-surface concentrations of CHG. The CHG concentrations were much higher for volunteers in the groups that were prompted to shower. Overall, researchers found 66 percent and 67 percent reductions in CHG skin-surface concentration in groups that were not reminded compared with the groups that were prompted to shower.
"The findings suggest that [electronic patient alert system] was effective in enhancing patient compliance with a preadmission showering protocol," the researchers concluded.