Ur ok; no ct.

Using text messaging to notify clients of STD test results can save clinics time and money, as well as reduce the amount of time it takes for infected individuals to begin getting treatment, according to a study examining the experience of a London sexual health clinic.(1) During the first six months that it offered clients the option of receiving test results via text message, the clinic sent 952 STD results this way; in the final month, one-third of all test results were sent by text message, and the clinic saved 46 hours in staff time and 40% in associated costs. In all, 49 clients tested positive for chlamydia during the study period; 28 of them were notified via text message, and the rest by phone or on a return visit to the clinic. Those who got a text message learned of their results significantly sooner than did those notified via traditional means (on average, in eight days, compared with 13 days); the interval from the test to the beginning of treatment also was shorter for those in the text message group than for those getting test results by phone or in person (medians, nine and 15 days, respectively). According to the researchers, by facilitating "the communication of relevant information to patients in a timely manner," text messaging has "a positive impact on individual and public health."

(1.) Menon-Johansson AS et al., Texting decreases the time to treatment for genital Chlamydia trachomatis infection, Sexually Transmitted Infections, 2006, 82(1):49-51.