Evaluating the short message service alerting system for critical value notification via PDA telephones

Physicians need to respond to critical value alerts in a timely and appropriate manner. We evaluated the clinical usefulness of a short message service (SMS) system for notifying physicians of critical values by sending a text message to their personal data assistant (PDA) phones. The clinical response times and clinical response rates to notifications of critical hyperkalemia in inpatients in 2001, when the callback system alone was used to alert physicians, were compared to those in 2005, when the SMS alert system was used in addition to the callback system. The clinical response time to SMS alerts of critical hyperkalemia sent to PDA phones in 2005 was remarkably shorter than the response time to alerts sent using the callback system alone in 2001. With the help of the SMS system for sending critical value alerts to PDA phones, corrective actions could be taken more promptly and patient care was improved.