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[Non-attendance at a pediatric outpatient clinic. SMS text messaging improves attendance]
Lisbeth Venø Kruse1, Lars G Hansen, Charlotte Olesen
1Regionshospitalet Viborg, Børneafdelingen. lakruse@tdcadsl.dk
Insights
Short message service (SMS) text message reminders significantly reduced non-attendance rates at paediatric outpatient clinics. Most parents found SMS reminders helpful and desired them for future appointments.
Area of Science:
- Pediatric Healthcare
- Health Informatics
- Patient Adherence
Background:
- High rates of non-attendance at paediatric outpatient clinics pose challenges to healthcare delivery.
- Understanding patient and family preferences for appointment reminders is crucial for improving clinic efficiency.
Purpose of the Study:
- To evaluate the effectiveness of short message service (SMS) text message reminders in reducing paediatric outpatient clinic non-attendance.
- To assess parental attitudes towards receiving SMS appointment reminders.
Main Methods:
- A prospective cohort study compared non-attendance rates between families who received and did not receive SMS reminders.
- SMS reminders were sent to eligible families during specific weeks of the study period.
- A questionnaire was administered to families to gauge their attitudes towards SMS reminders.
Main Results:
- Non-attendance was lower in the group receiving SMS reminders (5.9%) compared to the control group (10.0%), with a relative risk of 1.7.
- Over 41% of parents reported that SMS reminders helped them remember appointments.
- A significant majority (95.1%) of parents expressed willingness to receive future SMS reminders, with only 2.6% reporting offense.
Conclusions:
- SMS text message reminders are an effective strategy for reducing non-attendance at paediatric outpatient clinics.
- The majority of parents view SMS reminders favorably and prefer their use for future appointments.
Introduction:
To assess whether short message service (SMS) text message reminders would reduce non-attendance at a paediatric outpatient clinic. Furthermore, we wanted to clarify the families' attitude towards receiving an SMS reminder.
Method And Materials:
In a prospective cohort study we compared non-attendance among families who did/did not receive an SMS reminder. All patients with an appointment at the paediatric outpatient clinic in weeks 37 to 44, 2006 were included except those who were attending specific immunotherapy. By use of a computer program, the SMS reminders were sent to families with an appointment at the clinic in weeks 38, 40, 42 and 44. The families attending the clinic during these weeks were also asked to complete a questionnaire.
Results:
Among families who did/did not receive an SMS reminder, the non-attendance was 10.0% and 5.9%, respectively. The relative risk was 1.7 (95% confidence interval (CI) 1.1-2.7). Sixty-eight (41.7%) of the parents stated, that the SMS reminder helped them remember their appointment. A total of 155 (95.1%) would like to receive an SMS reminder before future appointments in the clinic. Only seven (2.6%) were offended by the SMS reminder.
Conclusion:
SMS reminders reduced non-attendance at the paediatric outpatient clinic.
