Smartphone Application WeChat for Clinical Follow-up of Discharged Patients with Head and Neck Tumors

Lyu, Ke-Xing; Zhao, Jing; Wang, Bin; Xiong, Guanxia; Yang, Weiqiang; Liu, Qi-Hong; Zhu, Xiaolin; Sun, Wei; Jiang, Aiyun; Wang, Wen; Lei, Wen-Bin

doi:10.4103/0366-6999.194635

Cited by 83 publications

(77 citation statements)

References 30 publications

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“…Telephone follow-up has been examined in both adult and paediatric populations following anorectal surgery, cholecystectomy, hernia repair, tonsillectomy and following endoscopy1 6–9 12 and has been found to be a safe and acceptable alternative with satisfaction rates exceeding 90% 1 2. In this digital age, other and better technologies can be employed to enhance contact between patient and hospital such as text messaging,23 interactive voice response systems24 25 or web-based assessment tools26 or smartphone applications 27. We are now using the results of this study as the basis for a proposal to compare/ascertain the feasibility and safety of a text message follow-up and compare it to a telephone follow-up.…”

Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Virtual outpatient clinic as an alternative to an actual clinic visit after surgical discharge: a randomised controlled trial

et al. 2018

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BackgroundIt is standard practice to review all patients following discharge at a follow-up clinic but demands on all health services outweigh resources and unnecessary review appointments may delay or deny access to patients with greater needs.AimsThis randomised trial aimed to establish whether a virtual outpatient clinic (VOPC) was an acceptable alternative to an actual outpatient clinic (OPC) attendance for a broad range of general surgical patients following a hospital admission.Patients and methodsAll patients admitted under one general surgical service over the study period were assessed. If eligible for inclusion the rationale, randomisation and follow-up methods were explained, consent was sought and patients randomised to receive either a VOPC or an OPC appointment.ResultsTwo-hundred and nine patients consented to study inclusion, of which 98/107 (91.6%) in the VOPC group and 83/102 (81.4%) in the OPC group were successfully contacted. Only 6 patients in the OPC group and 10 in the VOPC group reported ongoing issues. A further follow-up indicated 78 of 82 (95%) VOPC patients were very happy with their overall experience compared with 34/61 (56%) in the actual OPC group (p<0.001). A significant proportion of both cohorts—68/82 (83%) in VOPC group and 41/61 (67%) in OPC group (p = 0.029)—preferred a VOPC appointment as their future follow-up of choice.ConclusionsThe majority of patients discharged from a surgical service could be better followed up by a virtual clinic with a significant proportion of patients reporting a preference for and a greater satisfaction with such a service.

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Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Virtual outpatient clinic as an alternative to an actual clinic visit after surgical discharge: a randomised controlled trial

et al. 2018

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“…Moreover, many patients do not receive reimbursement for PICC-related maintenance expenses, which can lead them to believe that delaying maintenance can save them money. In this context, Lyu et al [55] followed 108 patients with head and neck cancers for 6 months and found that WeChat follow-up was associated with better values for time consumption, economic cost, loss-to-follow-up rate, and patient satisfaction (vs. telephone follow-up). Other studies [19, 23] have also demonstrated that WeChat follow-up improves catheter maintenance dependence relative to telephone follow-up.…”

Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 99%

“…However, patients require a professional and reliable platform to ensure that they receive accurate information, and WeChat follow-up platforms in China help address these issues by providing patients with access to professional teams and knowledge, regularly updated information, picture- and video-based explanations, and positive interactions with healthcare professionals. Moreover, Lyu et al [55] reported that WeChat interventions were more likely to create a friendly relationship between the patient and nurse (vs. telephone interventions), which makes the patient more likely to trust and follow the nurse’s guidance.…”

Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Self-management of peripherally inserted central catheters after patient discharge via the WeChat smartphone application: A systematic review and meta-analysis

Kangwen

Ding

et al. 2018

PLoS ONE

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WeChat is a smartphone application that may help patients self-manage peripherally inserted central catheters (PICC), although additional data are needed regarding this topic. This systematic review and meta-analysis aimed to determine whether WeChat helped improve PICC-related complications, self-care ability, PICC maintenance dependency in that the behavior of a patient is in compliance with a doctor’s order or a will, knowledge mastery, and satisfaction among patients with a PICC. The PubMed, Embase, Cochrane Library, China Biology Medicine, China national Knowledge Infrastructure, Wanfang, Wiper, and Baidu Scholar databases were searched to identify related reports that were published up to April 2018. This search revealed 36 reports that were published during 2014–2018, including 2,623 controls and 2,662 patients who used the WeChat application. Relative to the traditional follow-up group, the group that received WeChat follow-up had a lower risk of PICC-related complications (odds ratio [OR]: 0.23, 95% confidence interval [CI]: 0.19–0.27, P < 0.00001), better self-care ability (mean difference: 36.41, 95% CI: 34.68–38.14, P < 0.00001), higher PICC maintenance dependency (OR: 4.27, 95% CI: 3.35–5.44, P < 0.00001), and higher patient satisfaction (OR: 6.20, 95% CI: 4.32–8.90, P < 0.00001). Eight studies reported knowledge mastery, although the different evaluation tools precluded a meta-analysis. Nevertheless, those eight studies revealed that knowledge mastery was significantly higher in the WeChat group than in the traditional follow-up group (P < 0.05). To the best of our knowledge, this is the first meta-analysis to evaluate the effects of WeChat follow-up on self-management among patients who are discharged with a PICC. It appears that WeChat follow-up can help improve the incidence of complications, self-care ability, PICC maintenance dependence, and patient satisfaction. However, the WeChat application itself cannot improve patients’ self-management ability. Further studies are needed to produce high-quality evidence to determine whether WeChat is an effective follow-up tool.

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“…Some investigated the utility and impact of Wechat service in clinical follow-up (Feng et al, 2017;Lyu et al, 2016), and some aimed to determine the effectiveness of using MMA (WhatsApp and WeChat) as a clinical intervention (Iribarren et al, 2017;Johnston et al, 2015;W. Some investigated the utility and impact of Wechat service in clinical follow-up (Feng et al, 2017;Lyu et al, 2016), and some aimed to determine the effectiveness of using MMA (WhatsApp and WeChat) as a clinical intervention (Iribarren et al, 2017;Johnston et al, 2015;W.…”

mentioning

confidence: 99%

“…Previous studies have assessed application of MMA in health care, especially in clinical area. Some investigated the utility and impact of Wechat service in clinical follow-up (Feng et al, 2017;Lyu et al, 2016), and some aimed to determine the effectiveness of using MMA (WhatsApp and WeChat) as a clinical intervention (Iribarren et al, 2017;Johnston et al, 2015;W. Li, Han, Guo, & Sun, 2016) or an educational intervention for improving health literacy (X. .…”

mentioning

confidence: 99%

The use of mobile messaging‐based case studies in a pharmacotherapy introduction class in China

Wang

et al. 2018

Computer Assisted Learning

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This study is to examine the attitudes of students towards the case studies based on mobile messaging in a pharmacotherapy introduction class. Case studies were divided into 4 groups, with 30 pharmacy students each group. Each group was required to share pharmaceutical care plans on WeChat by posting messages. A post‐activity survey was conducted: Over 70% of the students agreed that mobile messaging‐based case studies (MMBC) helped developing skills and knowledge and stimulating additional research and readings. Over 60% of the students felt that MMBC helped understanding others' viewpoints and sharing their experience and knowledge. More than half of the students agreed that MMBC was more convenient than traditional and internet‐based case study. Less than 30% of the students agreed that the interaction with other students was good. The findings reflect the MMBC studies' popularity with students. Recommendations to use MMBC studies include (a) balance the merits, such as expressing opinions clearly and concisely, allowing for collaborative learning, with the drawbacks: distraction and the low quality of interactions; (b) use small groups for case discussion; (c) design a collaborative schedule dividing the discussion into different sections.

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Smartphone Application WeChat for Clinical Follow-up of Discharged Patients with Head and Neck Tumors

Cited by 83 publications

References 30 publications

Virtual outpatient clinic as an alternative to an actual clinic visit after surgical discharge: a randomised controlled trial

Virtual outpatient clinic as an alternative to an actual clinic visit after surgical discharge: a randomised controlled trial

Self-management of peripherally inserted central catheters after patient discharge via the WeChat smartphone application: A systematic review and meta-analysis

The use of mobile messaging‐based case studies in a pharmacotherapy introduction class in China

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