Health information: what can mobile phone assessments add?

In healthcare, pain assessment is a key factor in effectively treating postoperative pain and reducing the risk of developing chronic pain. The overall aim of this study was to investigate whether a mobile phone support system can be used as a basis to continuously document patients' health information in real time and provide conditions for optimal, individual pain management after cholecystectomy and hysterectomy procedures.In this pilot study, two randomly selected groups of patients provided information about their pain for one week postoperatively. One group responded via cell phones, and the other, a control group, responded using paper-based questionnaires.The mobile phone system was found to provide a fast and safe basis for reporting pain postoperatively in real time. The results indicate that on days 3 and 4 the mobile phone group reported significantly higher levels of pain than the control group, and the cholecystectomy patients reported significantly more pain at movement on days 3 and 4 than the hysterectomy patients.The mobile phone approach is an adaptation to modern technology and the mobility of individuals. This technology is user friendly and requires minimal support. However, as the sample size was small (n = 37), further studies are needed before additional conclusions can be drawn.