The Royal College of Nursing has issued guidance on the use of text messaging services for nurses working with children and young people.
The college says: “Text messaging can provide access and signposting to health and advice services for young or vulnerable people who would not access services by traditional methods.”
However, it stresses the importance of nurses being familiar with and adhering to their professional guidance.
RCN adviser on children and young people, Fiona Smith, told E-Health Insider that the college welcomed the opportunity opened up by the technology to communicate with young people who might not access services by other means.
She sees technologies such as text messaging and web chat very much as an adjunct to good healthcare practice not as a substitute for contact with practitioners.
“Having talked to practitioners who use this kind of service, they work with young people by texting to gain their trust and are eventually able to meet the young person face-to-face,” she explained.
Demand for the guidance document has been brisk since the college launched it about a week ago. Smith’s impression is that the use of texting is increasing in school nursing and specialist nursing in areas such as paediatric diabetes where children can communicate with their nurses about blood glucose readings.
The document cites research by pollsters, MORI, showing that increasing numbers of children and young people under 25 years own mobile phones and are more likely to communicate by text message than by telephone call.
It covers: governance principles for using text messaging; issues to consider when setting up a text messaging service; accountability; system options; principles of practice; evaluation and audit; and making children and young people aware of the service.
Confidentiality issues loom large in the guidance. It says that, in line with their code of conduct, nurses must treat information about patients and clients as confidential and use it only for the purpose it was given. In practice, the guidance says nurses should ensure that young service users understand their information may be made available to other team members dealing with their care and that confidentiality cannot be guaranteed when disclosures are made.
Nurses must ensure that an up to date policy confidentiality policy exists in their specialty and covers the use of mobiles and that the appointed Caldicott Guardian has been consulted before starting the service.
In practice, the college says coded messages may be needed in some cases, for example, contraception pill reminders for under 16 year olds and an “acceptable list of text language” need to be agreed and included in any advertising of the service to prevent misunderstandings.
The college says that, although the document is aimed at nurses working with children and young people, its content is relevant to any healthcare professional setting up text messaging services.
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