MedicalResearch.com Interview with: Moe Alsumidaie MBA MSF President & Chief Scientific Officer Annex Clinical   MedicalResearch: What is the background for this study? Response: SUMMARY: A real-world case study measuring the impact of Short Messaging System (SMS) or “Text Messaging” on clinical trial patient recruitment using an interactive two-way patient engagement platform by Mosio, Inc., which provides clinical research services designed to increase patient recruitment, engagement and retention, found that use of text messaging alone can be an effective means of patient engagement that results in clinical trial patient enrollment. Patient recruitment, retention and medication adherence continue to be challenges in conducting effective clinical trials. While clinical trials often rely on email recruitment, recent studies suggest that only 22% of emails are read.¹ Alternatively, 98% of text messages are read¹ and 90% of text messages are read within the first three minutes of receipt.² Recent research has evaluated the impact of Short Messaging System (SMS) or “Text Messaging” in healthcare settings, such as appointment reminders and medication adherence. Results have demonstrated that SMS intervention significantly improved patient behavioral outcomes: patients who received SMS reminders were more likely to show up to appointments on time,³ and patients who received SMS reminders were more adherent to medications.⁴ However, only limited research is available on the effect of SMS on clinical trial subject enrollment. Johnson County Clin-Trials (JCCT), a clinical research facility that specializes in executing 10-15 vaccine clinical trials per year, was facing issues with enrolling patients rapidly in a tight time frame using email. To access a more effective strategy to better engage patients, JCCT employed two-way SMS/text messaging solutions, and this study assessed the impact of SMS/text messaging on patient recruitment and enrollment. (more…)