title: A Randomized Controlled Trial of the Effectiveness of Traditional and Mobile Public Health Communications With Health Care Providers.
abstract: OBJECTIVE
  Health care providers play an essential role in public health emergency preparedness and response. We conducted a 4-year randomized controlled trial to systematically compare the effectiveness of traditional and mobile communication strategies for sending time-sensitive public health messages to providers.
  
  
  METHODS
  Subjects (N=848) included providers who might be leveraged to assist with emergency preparedness and response activities, such as physicians, pharmacists, nurse practitioners, physician's assistants, and veterinarians. Providers were randomly assigned to a group that received time-sensitive quarterly messages via e-mail, fax, or cell phone text messaging (SMS) or to a no-message control group. Follow-up phone interviews elicited information about message receipt, topic recall, and perceived credibility and trustworthiness of message and source.
  
  
  RESULTS
  Our main outcome measures were awareness and recall of message content, which was compared across delivery methods. Per-protocol analysis revealed that e-mail messages were recalled at a higher rate than were messaged delivered by fax or SMS, whereas the as-treated analysis found that e-mail and fax groups had similar recall rates and both had higher recall rates than the SMS group.
  
  
  CONCLUSIONS
  This is the first study to systematically evaluate the relative effectiveness of public health message delivery systems. Our findings provide guidance to improve public health agency communications with providers before, during, and after a public health emergency.
authors.affiliation: 1Department of Epidemiology,School of Public Health,University of Washington,Seattle,Washington.
authors.forename: Janet
authors.initials: J
authors.lastname: Baseman
authors.affiliation: 2Department of Health Services,School of Public Health,University of Washington,Seattle,Washington.
authors.forename: Debra
authors.initials: D
authors.lastname: Revere
authors.affiliation: 2Department of Health Services,School of Public Health,University of Washington,Seattle,Washington.
authors.forename: Ian
authors.initials: I
authors.lastname: Painter
authors.affiliation: 1Department of Epidemiology,School of Public Health,University of Washington,Seattle,Washington.
authors.forename: Mark
authors.initials: M
authors.lastname: Oberle
authors.affiliation: 3Communicable Disease Epidemiology & Immunization Section,Public Health - Seattle & King County,Seattle,Washington.
authors.forename: Jeffrey
authors.initials: J
authors.lastname: Duchin
authors.affiliation: 3Communicable Disease Epidemiology & Immunization Section,Public Health - Seattle & King County,Seattle,Washington.
authors.forename: Hanne
authors.initials: H
authors.lastname: Thiede
authors.affiliation: 4Public Health and Safety Division,Montana Department of Public Health & Human Services;Helena,Montana.
authors.forename: Randall
authors.initials: R
authors.lastname: Nett
authors.affiliation: 5Disease Prevention and Response,Spokane Regional Health District,Spokane,Washington.
authors.forename: Dorothy
authors.initials: D
authors.lastname: MacEachern
authors.affiliation: 1Department of Epidemiology,School of Public Health,University of Washington,Seattle,Washington.
authors.forename: Andy
authors.initials: A
authors.lastname: Stergachis
mesh_terms: D040421:Cell Phone / Q000592:standards* / Q000706:statistics & numerical data; D003142:Communication; D004631:Emergency Medical Service Communication Systems / Q000592:standards* / Q000706:statistics & numerical data; D005260:Female; D006282:Health Personnel; D006801:Humans; D008297:Male; D015397:Program Evaluation / Q000379:methods*; D011634:Public Health / Q000379:methods* / Q000592:standards; D060145:Text Messaging / Q000592:standards / Q000706:statistics & numerical data
keywords: communication; emergency preparedness; public health; public health practice; text messaging