Association between patient-reported onset-to-door time and mortality in patients hospitalized with COVID-19 disease.

INTRODUCTION: Timely hospital presentation and treatment are critical for recovery from coronavirus disease (COVID-19). However, the relationship between symptom onset-to-door time and key clinical outcomes, such as inpatient mortality, has been poorly understood due to the difficulty of retrospectively measuring symptom onset in observational data. This study examines the association between patient-reported symptom onset-to-door time (ODT) and mortality among patients hospitalized and treated for COVID-19 disease. METHODS: We conducted a retrospective cohort study of emergency department (ED) encounters of patients with COVID-19 disease who were hospitalized and received remdesivir and/or dexamethasone between March 1, 2020, and March 1, 2022. The exposure was patient-reported ODT in days. The outcome of interest was inpatient mortality, including referral to hospice care. We used multivariable logistic regression to examine the association between ODT and mortality while adjusting for patient characteristics, hospital sites, and seasonality. We tested whether severe illness on hospital presentation modified the association between ODT and mortality. Severe illness was defined by Emergency Severity Index triage level 1 or 2 and hypoxia (SpO2 < 94%). RESULTS: Of the 3451 ED hospitalizations included, 439 (12.7%) resulted in mortality, and 1693 (49.1%) involved patients with severe illness on hospital presentation. Greater ODT was significantly associated with lower odds of inpatient mortality (adjusted odds ratio (AOR) = 0.96, 95% CI = 0.93-1.00, P = 0.023). There was a statistically significant interaction between ODT and severe illness at hospital arrival on mortality, suggesting the negative association between ODT and mortality specifically pertained to patients who were not severely ill upon ED presentation (AOR = 0.93, 95% CI = 0.87-1.00, P = 0.035). The adjusted probability of mortality was significantly lower for non-severely ill, hospitalized patients who presented on days 8-14 (5.2%-3.3%) versus days 0-3 (9.4%-7.5%) after symptom onset. CONCLUSION: More days between symptom onset and hospital arrival were associated with lower mortality among hospitalized patients treated for COVID-19 disease, particularly if they did not have severe illness at ED presentation. However, onset-to-door time was not associated with mortality among hospitalized patients with severe illness at ED presentation. Collectively, these results suggest that non-severely ill COVID-19 patients who require hospitalization are less likely to decompensate with each passing day without severe illness. These findings may continue to guide clinical care delivery for hospitalized COVID-19 patients.

Patient and clinician perspectives of a remote monitoring program for COVID-19 and lessons for future programs.

COVID Watch is a remote patient monitoring program implemented during the pandemic to support home dwelling patients with COVID-19. The program conferred a large survival advantage. We conducted semi-structured interviews of 85 patients and clinicians using COVID Watch to understand how to design such programs even better. Patients and clinicians found COVID Watch to be comforting and beneficial, but both groups desired more clarity about the purpose and timing of enrollment and alternatives to text-messages to adapt to patients' preferences as these may have limited engagement and enrollment among marginalized patient populations. Because inclusiveness and equity are important elements of programmatic success, future programs will need flexible and multi-channel human-to-human communication pathways for complex clinical interactions or for patients who do not desire tech-first approaches.

Patient and clinician perspectives of a remote monitoring program for COVID-19 and lessons for future programs.

COVID Watch is a remote patient monitoring program implemented during the pandemic to support home dwelling patients with COVID-19. The program conferred a large survival advantage. We conducted semi-structured interviews of 85 patients and clinicians using COVID Watch to understand how to design such programs even better. Patients and clinicians found COVID Watch to be comforting and beneficial, but both groups desired more clarity about the purpose and timing of enrollment and alternatives to text-messages to adapt to patients’ preferences as these may have limited engagement and enrollment among marginalized patient populations. Because inclusiveness and equity are important elements of programmatic success, future programs will need flexible and multi-channel human-to-human communication pathways for complex clinical interactions or patients who do not desire tech-first approaches.

Real-Time Measurement of Patient Reported Outcomes and Opioid Use Following Urologic Procedures using Automated Text Messaging.

OBJECTIVE: To evaluate opioid consumption and patient-reported pain intensity following urologic procedures. METHODS: Adult patients were consented following a urologic procedure, and data was collected through postoperative day 28 in a large tertiary care academic health system. An automated text messaging platform was used to collect patient reported pain intensity, ability to manage pain, and opioid use measured in oxycodone 5mg tablet equivalents. Outcomes were weighted based on the inverse probability of response to yield representative estimates. RESULTS: One thousand and fifteen (51.8%) patients responded to the text-message survey. The median number of pills prescribed was 10 (IQR 6-10), and the median number of pills taken was 2 (IQR 0-6). By postoperative day 7, the median tablets taken overall was 0. Over the study period, 60.1% (6566) of all tablets prescribed were left unused, and 38.4% of patients did not use any of the prescribed opioids. Across urologic procedures, 6 tablets would accommodate the 75th percentile of patient-reported use, with the exception of major open procedures. CONCLUSION: In this study utilizing real-time measurement of opioid use and pain levels with text messaging, there was evidence of dramatic over-prescription of opioids relative to use and pain levels. Patient-reported data, collected via text messaging, can support clinicians and policy leaders in forming national guidelines on evidence-based best practices, personalizing prescriptions and guide shared decision making to decrease opioid excess.

Testing Digital Methods of Patient-Reported Outcomes Data Collection: Prospective Cluster Randomized Trial to Test SMS Text Messaging and Mobile Surveys.

BACKGROUND: Health care delivery continues to evolve, with an effort being made to create patient-centered care models using patient-reported outcomes (PROs) data. Collecting PROs has remained challenging and an expanding landscape of digital health offers a variety of methods to engage patients. OBJECTIVE: The aim of this study is to prospectively investigate two common methods of remote PRO data collection. The study sought to compare response and engagement rates for bidirectional SMS text messaging and mobile surveys following orthopedic surgery. METHODS: The study was a prospective, block randomized trial of adults undergoing elective orthopedic procedures over 6 weeks. The primary objective was to determine if the method of digital patient engagement would impact response and completion rates. The primary outcome was response rate and total completion of PRO questionnaires. RESULTS: A total of 127 participants were block randomized into receiving a mobile survey (n=63) delivered as a hyperlink or responding to the same questions through an automated bidirectional SMS text messaging system (n=64). Gender, age, number of comorbidities, and opioid prescriptions were similar across messaging arms. Patients receiving the mobile survey were more likely to have had a knee-related surgery (n=50, 83.3% vs n=40, 62.5%; P=.02) but less likely to have had an invasive procedure (n=26, 41.3% vs n=39, 60.9%; P=.03). Overall engagement over the immediate postoperative period was similar. Prolonged engagement for patients taking opioids past postoperative day 4 was higher in the mobile survey arm at day 7 (18/19, 94.7% vs 9/16, 56.3%). Patients with more invasive procedures showed a trend toward being responsive at day 4 as compared to not responding (n=41, 59.4% vs n=24, 41.4%; P=.05). CONCLUSIONS: As mobile patient engagement becomes more common in health care, testing the various options to engage patients to gather data is crucial to inform future care and research. We found that bidirectional SMS text messaging and mobile surveys were comparable in response and engagement rates; however, mobile surveys may trend toward higher response rates over longer periods of time. TRIAL REGISTRATION: ClinicalTrials.gov NCT03532256; https://clinicaltrials.gov/ct2/show/NCT03532256.

Accuracy of Consumer-marketed smartphone-paired alcohol breath testing devices: A laboratory validation study.

BACKGROUND: Although alcohol breath testing devices that pair with smartphones are promoted for the prevention of alcohol-impaired driving, their accuracy has not been established. METHODS: In a within-subjects laboratory study, we administered weight-based doses of ethanol to two groups of 10 healthy, moderate drinkers aiming to achieve a target peak blood alcohol concentration (BAC) of 0.10%. We obtained a peak phlebotomy BAC and measured breath alcohol concentration (BrAC) with a police-grade device (Intoxilyzer 240) and two randomly ordered series of 3 consumer smartphone-paired devices (6 total devices) with measurements every 20 min until the BrAC reached <0.02% on the police device. Ten participants tested the first 3 devices, and the other 10 participants tested the other 3 devices. We measured mean paired differences in BrAC with 95% confidence intervals between the police-grade device and consumer devices. RESULTS: The enrolled sample (N = 20) included 11 females; 15 white, 3 Asian, and 2 Black participants; with a mean age of 27 and mean BMI of 24.6. Peak BACs ranged from 0.06-0.14%. All 7 devices underestimated BAC by >0.01%, though the BACtrack Mobile Pro and police-grade device were consistently more accurate than the Drinkmate and Evoc. Compared with the police-grade device measurements, the BACtrack Mobile Pro readings were consistently higher, the BACtrack Vio and Alcohoot measurements similar, and the Floome, Drinkmake, and Evoc consistently lower. The BACtrack Mobile Pro and Alcohoot were most sensitive in detecting BAC driving limit thresholds, while the Drinkmate and Evoc devices failed to detect BAC limit thresholds more than 50% of the time relative to the police-grade device. CONCLUSIONS: The accuracy of smartphone-paired devices varied widely in this laboratory study of healthy participants. Although some devices are suitable for clinical and research purposes, others underestimated BAC, creating the potential to mislead intoxicated users into thinking that they are fit to drive.

Patient-Reported Opioid Consumption and Pain Intensity After Common Orthopedic and Urologic Surgical Procedures With Use of an Automated Text Messaging System.

Importance: Surgeons must balance management of acute postoperative pain with opioid stewardship. Patient-centered methods that immediately evaluate pain and opioid consumption can be used to guide prescribing and shared decision-making. Objective: To assess the difference between the number of opioid tablets prescribed and the self-reported number of tablets taken as well as self-reported pain intensity and ability to manage pain after orthopedic and urologic procedures with use of an automated text messaging system. Design, Setting, and Participants: This quality improvement study was conducted at a large, urban academic health care system in Pennsylvania. Adult patients (aged ≥18 years) who underwent orthopedic and urologic procedures and received postoperative prescriptions for opioids were included. Data were collected prospectively using automated text messaging until postoperative day 28, from May 1 to December 31, 2019. Main Outcomes and Measures: The primary outcome was the difference between the number of opioid tablets prescribed and the patient-reported number of tablets taken (in oxycodone 5-mg tablet equivalents). Secondary outcomes were self-reported pain intensity (on a scale of 0-10, with 10 being the highest level of pain) and ability to manage pain (on a scale of 0-10, with 10 representing very able to control pain) after orthopedic and urologic procedures. Results: Of the 919 study participants, 742 (80.7%) underwent orthopedic procedures and 177 (19.2%) underwent urologic procedures. Among those who underwent orthopedic procedures, 384 (51.8%) were women, 491 (66.7%) were White, and the median age was 48 years (interquartile range [IQR], 32-61 years); 514 (69.8%) had an outpatient procedure. Among those who underwent urologic procedures, 145 (84.8%) were men, 138 (80.7%) were White, and the median age was 56 years (IQR, 40-67 years); 106 (62%) had an outpatient procedure. The mean (SD) pain score on day 4 after orthopedic procedures was 4.72 (2.54), with a mean (SD) change by day 21 of -0.40 (1.91). The mean (SD) ability to manage pain score on day 4 was 7.32 (2.59), with a mean (SD) change of -0.80 (2.72) by day 21. The mean (SD) pain score on day 4 after urologic procedures was 3.48 (2.43), with a mean (SD) change by day 21 of -1.50 (2.12). The mean (SD) ability to manage pain score on day 4 was 7.34 (2.81), with a mean (SD) change of 0.80 (1.75) by day 14. The median quantity of opioids prescribed for patients who underwent orthopedic procedures was high compared with self-reported consumption (20 tablets [IQR, 15-30 tablets] vs 6 tablets used [IQR, 0-14 tablets]), similar to findings for patients who underwent urologic procedures (7 tablets [IQR, 5-10 tablets] vs 1 tablet used [IQR, 0-4 tablets]). Over the study period, 9452 of 15 581 total tablets prescribed (60.7%) were unused. A total of 589 patients (64.1%) used less than half of the amount prescribed, and 256 patients (27.8%) did not use any opioids (179 [24.1%] who underwent orthopedic procedures and 77 [43.5%] who underwent urologic procedures). Conclusions and Relevance: In this quality improvement study of adult patients reporting use of opioids after common orthopedic and urologic surgical procedures through a text messaging system, the quantities of opioids prescribed and the quantity consumed differed. Patient-reported data collected through text messaging may support clinicians in tailoring prescriptions and guide shared decision-making to limit excess quantities of prescribed opioids.