Use of SMS text messaging to improve outpatient attendance.
OBJECTIVE
To evaluate the effect of appointment reminders sent as short message service (SMS) text messages to patients' mobile telephones on attendance at outpatient clinics.


METHODS
Cohort study with historical control.


METHODS
Royal Children's Hospital, Melbourne, Victoria.


METHODS
Patients who gave a mobile telephone contact number and were scheduled to attend any of five outpatient clinics (dermatology, gastroenterology, general medicine, paediatric dentistry and plastic surgery) in September (trial group) or August (control group), 2004.


METHODS
Failure to attend (FTA) rate compared between the group sent a reminder and those who were not.


RESULTS
2151 patients were scheduled to attend a clinic in September; 1382 of these (64.2%) gave a mobile telephone contact number and were sent an SMS reminder (trial group). Corresponding numbers in the control group were 2276 scheduled to attend and 1482 (65.1%) who gave a mobile telephone number. The FTA rate for individual clinics was 12%-16% for the trial group, and 19%-39% for the control group. Overall FTA rate was significantly lower in the trial group than in the control group (14.2% v 23.4%; P < 0.001).


CONCLUSIONS
The observed reduction in failure to attend rate was in line with that found using traditional reminder methods. The ease with which large numbers of messages can be customised and sent by SMS text messaging, along with its availability and comparatively low cost, suggest it may be a suitable means of improving patient attendance.
Downer
Sean R
SR
Royal Children's Hospital, Flemington Rd, Parkville, VIC. sean.downer@rch.org.au
Meara
John G
JG
Da Costa
Annette C
AC
D000553:Ambulatory Care / Q000458:organization & administration*; D001071:Appointments and Schedules; D040421:Cell Phone / Q000295:instrumentation*; D015331:Cohort Studies; D006801:Humans; D010043:Outcome and Process Assessment, Health Care; D010349:Patient Compliance; D017010:Reminder Systems / Q000295:instrumentation*; D014739:Victoria