[Evaluation of compliance with advance appointment in a protocol of chronic patients]

The advance appointment has been proposed as one of the mechanisms to be implemented in the health care centers to shorten the long delays inherent to the "old model" from long ago, thus improving the accessibility of these services to the user and optimizing the time of health staff on the basis of the patients' needs. The present study describes the behavior of the users of a health center in Valencia regarding the advance appointment in a program for the control of hypertensives seen in the nursing clinic. The monthly and yearly rates are also reported. In the particular case of the patients who complied with the appointment and of those who were late or did not attend (with or without previous notice), results by sex are also reported. A reduction in compliance was found during the summer months. In males the compliance was lower throughout the year. There was 81.25% of correct attendance during the study period. In 14.74% the attendance failed without known motive, 3.3% of appointments were fulfilled later than established, and 0.6% gave notice cancelling their appointment.