Mobile Text Messaging Technology Could Play A Vital Role In ...
Did you know that more than 2 million patients die every year of skin cancer in the United States alone? And, unless you have been hiding under a rock, you must have already felt the effects of global warming and also come across newspaper reports that in 90% of the cases, it is the big bad sun that is to be blamed for skin cancer. So, it goes without mention that every little fruitful effort to reduce the risk of skin cancer in the country counts. Now, what exactly has Mobile text messaging technology got to do with skin cancer?
Well, recently the center for connected health conducted a nationwide study to find out how effective mobile text messaging technology was in increasing awareness about the causative factors of skin cancer and also how sunscreen could protect your skin. It was found that mobile text messaging technology was more effective in reminding people about sunscreen use compared to reminders sent over e-mails and the recall value of print and television advertisements. The Center for connected health found out that mobile text messaging technology was a very low-cost and innovative way of staying connected with hundreds and thousands of cell phone users across the country and this technology could be possibly used even for larger scale health issues. The organization also found out that text messaging was more capable of influencing people into visiting their dermatologists more regularly and calculations by experts revealed that just mobile text messaging technology alone was capable of reducing skin cancer in the country by at least 35%. Now, that is something you cannot ignore. Neither could be mass communication experts ignore the figures.
After a little bit of number crunching it was found that 85% of cell phone users cannot ignore text message on their cell phones. A strange psychology works here ? more than half of all cell phone users in the country wouldn?t mind disconnecting and unwanted call from an unknown number and maybe even the extent of blacklisting it, but when it comes to messages, almost all cell phone users cannot resist the urge to find out what?s written in there. That makes mobile text messaging technology one of the most effective communication technologies ? sometimes it is even better than e-mail.

Experts believe that by using mobile text messaging technology, different government and nongovernment organizations will be able to reach out to a wider section of the demography and create awareness about killer diseases. However, just like any other scientific marvel, mobile text messaging technology also has its own set of disadvantages. According to the recent rules laid down by the United States government, all text messages, especially those that are sent by healthcare organizations and medical professionals need to be HIPPA compliant. This act has been put in place to make sure that the privacy and security of the patients do not get compromised under any circumstance. There have been instances when cell phones got stolen or misplaced and ended up in the wrong hands where they were hacked into and personal information of patients, especially celebrities, were extracted and publicized without the consent of the patient himself. So, the healthcare organizations just need to make sure that all text messages are HIPPA compliant.
Author: This is guest post by Kimber, a technology writer who researches and writes for Hippomsg.com, a private texting app for physicians which is compliant to HIPPA regulations.
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