A little health literacy can go a long way, particularly when it is used to add context to a text message vaccine reminder. That’s one of the findings of a new study published in the January 2015 edition of Pediatrics medical journal.
The study centered on 660 Latino children between the ages of 6 months through 8 years from three community clinics in New York City. They had received their first influenza vaccination for the season and required a second dose, according to a description of the study, by the American Academy of Pediatrics. The parents of each child were randomly assigned to receive either conventional text messages, including vaccination due date and clinic hours; educational text messages, which also added influenza vaccine health literacy promoting information; or a written reminder only.
About 72 percent of the parents who received the health literacy info were more likely to bring back their children to receive the booster dose. That’s a big contrast to the 66.7 percent who received conventional texts, and 57.1 percent who had only a written reminder at the time of the initial vaccination.
The study concluded that the additional information also meant more parents ensured they would get the booster shot on time.
“…embedding health literacy information improved the effectiveness of text message reminders in promoting timely delivery of a second dose of influenza vaccine, compared with conventional text messages and written reminder only.”
The study’s conclusions make a lot of sense and echo what patient advocacy groups have said for years. If medical information is presented in a way that makes sense to patients, and particularly parents, they will be more likely to give it a higher priority and adhere to it, rather than just delivering an order that is easily forgotten or put aside in favor of what may seem like more urgent tasks.
The Centers for Disease Control recommends that children aged 2-8 years old receive the nasal spray vaccine when it is immediately available and if the child has no contraindications or precautions to that vaccine, according to its website. But in the absence of the nasal spray vaccine, children in that age group should get the flu shot.
A Deep-dive Into Specialty Pharma
A specialty drug is a class of prescription medications used to treat complex, chronic or rare medical conditions. Although this classification was originally intended to define the treatment of rare, also termed “orphan” diseases, affecting fewer than 200,000 people in the US, more recently, specialty drugs have emerged as the cornerstone of treatment for chronic and complex diseases such as cancer, autoimmune conditions, diabetes, hepatitis C, and HIV/AIDS.
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