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Improving outpatient department efficiency: a randomized controlled trial comparing hospital and general-practice
1dna@selectpost.com
Insights
Telephone reminders significantly reduce hospital outpatient clinic no-show rates. Reminders from general practitioners (GPs) and hospitals were equally effective in improving patient attendance.
Area of Science:
- Healthcare Management
- Patient Adherence
- Clinical Operations
Background:
- High rates of non-attendance at hospital outpatient clinics lead to wasted resources and increased waiting times.
- Effective strategies are needed to improve patient appointment adherence and optimize clinic efficiency.
Purpose of the Study:
- To evaluate the effectiveness of telephone reminders in reducing outpatient clinic non-attendance.
- To compare the efficacy of telephone reminders from general practitioners (GPs) versus hospital staff.
Main Methods:
- A randomized controlled trial involving 109 patients over three months.
- Appointments were allocated to three groups: GP reminder, Hospital reminder, or Control (no reminder).
- Telephone reminders were administered 24 hours prior to scheduled appointments.
Main Results:
- The 'no show' rate was significantly lower in the telephone-reminded groups (5%) compared to the Control group (27%) (p = 0.004).
- The GP reminder group had a 3% 'no show' rate, and the Hospital reminder group had an 8% 'no show' rate.
- No statistically significant difference in 'no show' rates was observed between the GP and Hospital reminder groups (p = 0.764).
Conclusions:
- Telephone reminders are a highly effective method for reducing outpatient clinic non-attendance.
- The source of the telephone reminder (GP or hospital) does not impact its effectiveness in reducing patient no-shows.
Aims:
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.