SMS-Based Follow-Ups to Improve Post-Discharge Surgical Outcomes

The purpose of this study is to determine whether low-cost Short Message Service (SMS)-based follow-up medication reminders and surveys for surgical site infection (SSI) reporting can improve outcomes by increasing medication adherence and earlier detection and care of SSI. This will be a prospective study involving enrollment of patients onto the Memora Health platform, a web application developed for automating SMS content to patients. Post-operative patients will be identified by providers and enrolled prior to discharge, after which they will be followed for 3 months. Primary endpoints include medication adherence and patient satisfaction with the text messaging tool. Secondary endpoints include early detection of SSIs, patient satisfaction with overall post-discharge care and health-related quality of life, and pertinent 30-day readmissions.