Can a text message save lives in a heat wave?
NCT ID NCT07024628
First seen Sep 18, 2026 · Last updated Sep 18, 2026
Summary
Researchers are testing whether personalized digital messages from family doctors and nurse practitioners help adults in Eastern Ontario prepare for and respond to extreme heat. The trial enrolls about 20,000 primary care patients, identifies those at higher risk, and sends heat-safety advice and local resource information by email or text in English and French. When a heat advisory is issued, participants receive alerts prompting them to activate their heat safety plans. The study measures whether people take at least one heat-adaptation action, such as making a plan or checking on neighbours.
What this could mean
Our plain-language read of the trial. This is informational only, not medical advice or a prediction.
- Active substance
- tailored digital heat-safety messages sent by email or text
- What this could lead to
- If it works, this could give primary care providers a low-cost way to help patients avoid heat-related illness during extreme heat events.
- What could go wrong
- People may ignore the messages or lack the resources to act on them, and the trial measures self-reported behaviour rather than confirmed health outcomes. Results from Eastern Ontario may not apply elsewhere.
This is an AI summary of the original study and may miss details. Read our disclaimer.
Study facts
What this study's own registry entry says, in plain language.
- Phase
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Not a phased trial
Phase numbers describe drug development. The registry uses this when they do not apply, as it does for trials of devices, procedures or behaviour changes, and for observational studies.
- Participants
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About 20,000 people
The number the study aims to enrol. It can still change while the study runs.
- Started
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Apr 2025
- Expected to finish
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Mar 2028
An estimate. End dates often move.
- Lead sponsor
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Other sponsor
The registry's catch-all category, for sponsors it does not file as a company, a government agency, or a research network.
Who can take part
This study's own entry requirements. Only the study team can say for certain whether you qualify.
- Ages
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18 years and older
- Sex
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Anyone
- Healthy volunteers
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Accepted
You do not need to have the condition being studied to take part.
Show the full entry requirements Hide the full entry requirements
Copied word for word from the study's registry entry, so the wording is the study team's rather than ours.
Inclusion Criteria: The Heat Smart randomized controlled trial study will recruit patients and primary care providers (PCPs) from Eastern Ontario. The inclusion criteria ensure that the intervention reaches at-risk individuals while being scalable across different patient populations: Primary Care Patients: * Adults (18 years and older) * Patients must be registered with a participating PCP. * They must have had at least one visit with their PCP in the past two years to ensure active engagement. * Participants must have an active email, cell phone or messaging service (SMS) to receive Heat Smart digital messages. * Patients must be able to understand and consent to participate in the study. * Patients must be able to communicate in at least one of the official languages (English, French). * Participants will be recruited from PCP located in two Eastern Ontario public health districts: the Eastern Ontario Health Unit and Ottawa Public Health (including urban, rural, and Indigenous communities such as Akwesasne). Primary Care Providers: * Must be a licensed Family Physician (FP) or Nurse Practitioner (NP) in a practice of at least 2 PCPS. * The providers must be offering comprehensive primary care to a panel of patients (not solely urgent care or walk-in services). * Must work in a computerized primary care clinic with an electronic medical record system. * Must expect to remain in practice for at least 24 months. * Must be located in Eastern Ontario. * Must be willing to use the Canadian Primary Care Information Network (CPIN) to deliver Heat Smart messages and surveys. * Must be using Cliniconex or Qualtrics as a practice tool for communication enabling outreach before the patients are invited to consent to participate in the study. Exclusion Criteria: Patients who do not read French or English will be excluded from the study as they will not be able to give informed consent or to fill out the surveys. Patients who do not have an email address or text messaging service will be excluded for the same reason. Minors, patients with dementia and people who cannot read and write in English or French will not be eligible because the automated approach to surveying patients makes it impractical to properly obtain their consent.
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Conditions
The condition(s) this trial relates to.
As listed by the trial registrant
The condition terms exactly as the trial's registrant entered them.
How to take part
Only the study team decides who joins. These are the ways to reach them.
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The places running it
1 site. The list below names each one and where it is.
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The official record
ClinicalTrials.gov lists the study team's own contact details, including names and phone numbers. We don't republish those.
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A doctor treating you
A doctor who knows your case can contact a study site on your behalf, and can tell you whether this study is worth pursuing at all.
Contacts and locations
Locations
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Institut du Savoir Montfort
RECRUITINGOttawa, Ontario, K1K0M9, Canada
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