A digital medication adherence program with virtual video check-ins was associated with adolescent heart transplant recipients taking more of their medications as prescribed 6 months after the intervention, data from a pilot study show.
“Integrating mobile health components to promote patient health and nurture communication with health care professionals has the potential to transform all stages of transplant care from listing through posttransplant periods,” Dipankar Gupta, MBBS, DCH, MD, assistant professor of pediatric cardiology at the Congenital Heart Center at UF Health Shands Children’s Hospital, University of Florida, and colleagues wrote in the study background. “However, the use of mobile health approaches to support behavioral change, such as promotion of medication adherence, remains a challenge. Many currently available mobile health interventions addressing medication adherence address only a single risk factor for nonadherence, namely forgetfulness, through reminders sent via text or in-application notifications. This functionality essentially combines an alarm clock and a text message, which elicits little patient engagement and change in behavior.”
