title: Nurse practitioner intervention to improve postpartum appointment keeping in an outpatient family planning clinic.
abstract: A nurse practitioner (NP) program to improve postpartum appointment keeping in an outpatient family planning clinic is described and evaluated. The subjects (N = 59) were non-high-risk obstetric patients prescheduled to be seen at 6 weeks postpartum by the NP. Two groups were identified by convenience sampling: Group A (n = 25), the nonintervention group, and Group B (n = 34), the intervention group. Two types of intervention were used: a postpartum telephone call after discharge (n = 11), or a predischarge postpartum visit (n = 23). Results suggest that those in the intervention group were more likely to keep their appointments (p less than .02); only the postpartum visit increased the probability of appointment keeping (p less than .05).
authors.forename: H B
authors.initials: HB
authors.lastname: Buckley
mesh_terms: D000293:Adolescent; D000328:Adult; D000554:Ambulatory Care Facilities; D001071:Appointments and Schedules; D005193:Family Planning Services; D005260:Female; D006801:Humans; D009722:Nurse Practitioners / Q000379:methods*; D010349:Patient Compliance; D011181:Postnatal Care / Q000523:psychology / Q000592:standards*