Improving outpatient department efficiency: a randomized controlled trial comparing hospital and general-practice telephone reminders.
OBJECTIVE
This study aimed to ascertain whether or not telephone reminders reduce non-attendance at hospital outpatient clinics and whether telephone reminders from general practitioners are more effective than those made from hospitals.


METHODS
Outpatient department appointments for three general practitioners (GPs) over a three-month period, were randomized into three groups: 'Hospital', 'GP', and 'Control'. Patients in the Hospital and the GP groups were reminded of their appointment by telephone 24 hours beforehand, by a hospital waiting-list clerk or their general practitioner respectively. Information was recorded on appointment awareness and subsequent attendance history.


RESULTS
A total of 109 patients were included in the study. The three study groups had 'no show' rates of 3% (GP), 8% (Hospital), and 27% (Control). The combined 'no show' rate for the groups reminded by telephone was 5%. The combined telephone-reminded group was statistically different from the Control group (p = 0.004). There was no statistical difference between the GP group and the Hospital group (p = 0.764).


CONCLUSIONS
In this study, telephone reminders significantly decreased outpatient department 'no show' rates. The source of the telephone reminder made no difference to non-attendance.
Reti
Shane
S
dna@selectpost.com
D001071:Appointments and Schedules; D017598:Efficiency, Organizational; D005194:Family Practice / Q000458:organization & administration*; D006761:Hospitals; D006801:Humans; D009520:New Zealand; D010044:Outpatient Clinics, Hospital / Q000458:organization & administration*; D010342:Patient Acceptance of Health Care / Q000706:statistics & numerical data*; D017010:Reminder Systems; D013689:Telephone