Missed Appointments in Health Care Systems: A National Retrospective Data Linkage Project

Ellis, David; McQueenie, Ross; Williamson, Andrea; Wilson, Philip M.

doi:10.4135/9781529723014

Cited by 1 publication

(1 citation statement)

References 13 publications

Supporting

Mentioning

Contrasting

Order By: Relevance

“…Specifically, the intervention reported here was brought to the attention of nurses following a workshop that considered complex and simple approaches to reduce DNAs. We would encourage further knowledge-exchange activities in this regard, which can occur at any stage of the research process [ 12 ].…”

Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 99%

A weekday intervention to reduce missed appointments

et al. 2022

View full text Add to dashboard Cite

The burden of missed healthcare appointments is so great that even small reductions in Did Not Attend (DNA) rate can secure tangible benefits. Previous studies have identified demographic factors that predict DNA rate. However, it is not obvious that these insights can be used to improve attendance, as healthcare providers do not control patient demographics. One factor that providers do control is appointment scheduling. We previously reported that appointments at the beginning of the week are more likely to be missed than appointments at the end of the week. This observation suggests a simple intervention to reduce DNA rate: schedule appointments for later in the week. Using data from a UK mental health hospital, we compared attendance rates for 12-months before and 12-months after the intervention began (916 appointments in total). Overall DNA rate fell from 34.2% pre-intervention to 23.4% post-intervention [χ2 (1, N = 916) = 13.01, p < 0.001; Relative Risk Reduction, 31.6%]. This effect was carried mainly by female patients, for whom more appointments could be moved to later in the week. Our findings confirm that DNA rate can be significantly reduced by loading appointments onto high-attendance days.

show abstract

Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 99%