• P Daniel Patterson, Daniel J Buysse, Matthew D Weaver, Jack M Doman, Charity G Moore, Brian P Suffoletto, Kyle L McManigle, Clifton W Callaway, and Donald M Yealy.
• Department of Emergency Medicine, Carolinas HealthCare System Medical Center, Charlotte, North Carolina.
• Am. J. Ind. Med. 2015 Oct 1; 58 (10): 1098-113.

BackgroundWe assessed performance characteristics and impact of a mobile phone text-message intervention for reducing intra-shift fatigue among emergency clinician shift workers.MethodsWe used a randomized controlled trial of 100 participants. All participants received text-message assessments at the start, every 4 hr during, and at end of scheduled shifts over a 90-day period. Text-message queries measured self-rated sleepiness, fatigue, and difficulty with concentration. Additional text-messages were sent to intervention participants to promote alertness. A performance measure of interest was compliance with answering text-messages.ResultsNinety-nine participants documented 2,621 shifts and responded to 36,073 of 40,947 text-messages (88% compliance rate). Intervention participants reported lower mean fatigue and sleepiness at 4 hr, 8 hr, and at the end of 12 hr shifts compared to controls (P < 0.05). Intervention participants reported better sleep quality at 90-days compared to baseline (P = 0.01).ConclusionsWe showed feasibility and short-term efficacy of a text-message based assessment and intervention tool.© 2015 Wiley Periodicals, Inc.

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