Reasons for Missed Appointments

Little is known about reasons behind missed appointments in subspecialty settings, particularly in urogynecology practices.

The aim of the study was to understand patient-perceived barriers to appointment attendance at an academic urban multisite urogynecology practice.

This was a prospective, qualitative study of patients who missed their appointments at a urogynecology practice from April to September 2023. Patients were invited to participate in semistructured interviews. Nonrandom, purposive sampling ensured a reflective sample. The interview guide addressed attendance barriers, reasons for missed appointments, and clinic accessibility. Inductive coding was applied to interview text fragments and a codebook was developed.

Of the 230 eligible patients, 110 (48%) were contacted and 26/110 (24%) consented and completed interviews. Patients identified the following 3 major barriers to appointment attendance: (1) community and environmental barriers, (2) patient-related factors, and (3) clinic-related factors. Community and environmental barriers (n = 20 [77%]) included unforeseen circumstances and transportation issues, with 52% citing transportation difficulties. Patient-related factors (n = 16 [62%]) included family obligations, personal illness, mental health concerns, confusion with appointments, or competing job responsibilities. Clinic-related factors (n = 9 [35%]) included scheduling and timing issues. Participants proposed changes to facilitate attendance, which included clinics offering transportation assistance, providing interpersonal support through support groups, and improving the internet-based portal to make patient communication easier.

Identifying the reasons why patients miss appointments is pivotal to providing patient-centered care. Our findings provide a deeper understanding of issues underlying missed urogynecology appointments. Future research to develop an algorithm to identify barriers to attending appointments and provide interventions such as transportation support could result in more accessible, equitable care.