The use of postal reminders to reduce non-attendance at an orthodontic clinic: a randomised controlled trial.
OBJECTIVE
To evaluate the effect of issuing a patient reminder plus a confirmation slip on the attendance of orthodontic new patients.


METHODS
Department of Orthodontics, University Dental Hospital of Manchester.


METHODS
A randomised controlled trial.


METHODS
New patients were randomly allocated to:receive a reminder letter and return a confirmation slip ornot receive a reminder.


METHODS
Patient attendance at the clinic.


RESULTS
A total of 232 patients were entered into the study between June 18, 2001 and August 29, 2001. These were randomly allocated to 115 (49.8%) in the reminder group and 116 (50.2%) in the no reminder group. If the patient received a reminder and returned the confirmation they were less likely to fail the appointment than if they did not receive a reminder (OR 0.4, 95% CI 0.2 to 0.96) There was an effect of social deprivation, if the patients lived in an area of high social deprivation they were 2.7 (95% CI 1.1 to 6.5) times more likely to fail to attend an appointment than people who were more affluent.


CONCLUSIONS
The use of postal reminders for orthodontic consultation appointments appears to result in a useful increase of appointments that are kept or cancelled in advance.
Can
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Department of Dental Medicine and Surgery, University Dental Hospital of Manchester, Higher Cambridge Street, Manchester M15 6FH.
Macfarlane
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O'Brien
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KD
D001071:Appointments and Schedules; D002648:Child; D003796:Dental Service, Hospital / Q000458:organization & administration; D005260:Female; D006801:Humans; D008297:Male; D009970:Orthodontics / Q000458:organization & administration*; D011215:Practice Management, Dental; D017010:Reminder Systems; D012737:Sex Factors; D012923:Social Class