Potential impact of text message reminders on non-attendance at outpatient clinics.
BACKGROUND
Non-attendance at outpatient clinic leads to significant time wasting and inefficient use of resources.


OBJECTIVE
To establish the magnitude of the problem of clinic non-attendance and to ascertain the potential impact of a simple strategy to reduce inefficiency in Irish healthcare.


METHODS
The number of patients due to attend general surgical clinic in a single year was ascertained. Telephone questionnaire of 97 patients who failed to attend was performed. A survey of potential impact of text message reminder was conducted.


RESULTS
Appointments were sent to 18,362 patients. Of these, 31% (n = 5692) were new to clinic. The rate of non-attendance was 16.8% (n = 3085). Varied reasons were given for non-attendance. Text message reminder would encourage 51% of those surveyed to attend or cancel in advance.


CONCLUSIONS
The rate of non-attendance is 17%. A reminder would eradicate more than half of non-attendance, allowing significantly more new patients to be seen, translating to more efficient use of clinic time.
Hogan
A M
AM
Institute for Clinical Outcomes Research and Education (iCORE), St Vincents University Hospital, Elm Park, Dublin 4, Ireland. aislinghogan@yahoo.com
McCormack
O
O
Traynor
O
O
Winter
D C
DC
D001071:Appointments and Schedules; D040421:Cell Phone / Q000295:instrumentation* / Q000706:statistics & numerical data; D019538:Health Care Surveys / Q000706:statistics & numerical data; D006801:Humans; D007494:Ireland; D010044:Outpatient Clinics, Hospital / Q000706:statistics & numerical data*; D010045:Outpatients / Q000706:statistics & numerical data; D010349:Patient Compliance / Q000706:statistics & numerical data; D010352:Patient Dropouts / Q000706:statistics & numerical data; D017010:Reminder Systems / Q000295:instrumentation*; D011795:Surveys and Questionnaires; D014850:Waiting Lists