Abstract
A randomized trial of telephone and mailed reminders was conducted to assess their effect in reducing the rate of failure to keep appointments among patients new to a general medical clinic. Only 10% of the patients who received a telephone call and 12% of those who received a letter failed to keep their appointments compared with 20% of the control group (p less than 0.05). The most common reason given for failure to keep the appointment was lack of awareness of the appointment. Thus, telephone or mailed reminders can lower the rate of failure to keep appointments and result in greater satisfaction by patients and health care personnel.
Full text
PDF
Selected References
These references are in PubMed. This may not be the complete list of references from this article.
- Deyo R. A., Inui T. S. Dropouts and broken appointments. A literature review and agenda for future research. Med Care. 1980 Nov;18(11):1146–1157. doi: 10.1097/00005650-198011000-00006. [DOI] [PubMed] [Google Scholar]
- Fletcher R. H., Fletcher S. W. The Medical Polyclinic: an approach to conflicting needs in a teaching hospital. J Med Educ. 1976 Aug;51(8):634–643. [PubMed] [Google Scholar]
- Gates S. J., Colborn D. K. Lowering appointment failures in a neighborhood health center. Med Care. 1976 Mar;14(3):263–267. doi: 10.1097/00005650-197603000-00007. [DOI] [PubMed] [Google Scholar]
- Levy R., Claravall V. Differential effects of a phone reminder on appointment keeping for patients with long and short between-visit intervals. Med Care. 1977 May;15(5):435–438. doi: 10.1097/00005650-197705000-00010. [DOI] [PubMed] [Google Scholar]
- Nazarian L. F., Mechaber J., Charney E., Coulter M. P. Effect of a mailed appointment reminder on appointment keeping. Pediatrics. 1974 Mar;53(3):349–352. [PubMed] [Google Scholar]
- Schroeder S. A. Lowering broken appointment rates at a medical clinic. Med Care. 1973 Jan-Feb;11(1):75–78. [PubMed] [Google Scholar]
- Shepard D. S., Moseley T. A., 3rd Mailed versus telephoned appointment reminders to reduce broken appointments in a hospital outpatient department. Med Care. 1976 Mar;14(3):268–273. doi: 10.1097/00005650-197603000-00008. [DOI] [PubMed] [Google Scholar]