Journal article
Text-messaging to reduce missed appointment in a youth clinic: a randomised controlled trial.
- Narring F Department of Child and Adolescent, Adolescent & Young Adult Program, Geneva University Hospitals and Geneva University, , Geneva, Switzerland.
- Junod Perron N
- Dominicé Dao M
- Camparini Righini N
- Humair JP
- Broers B
- Gaspoz JM
- Haller DM
- 2013-06-14
Published in:
- Journal of epidemiology and community health. - 2013
Adolescents CG
General Practice
Randomised Trials
Adolescent
Appointments and Schedules
Child
Female
Hospitals, University
Humans
Male
Patient Compliance
Reminder Systems
Switzerland
Text Messaging
Young Adult
English
BACKGROUND
To assess the effectiveness of text-messages in reducing the proportion of non-attendance in a youth clinic of a University Hospital.
METHODS
Patients who registered for an appointment and provided a mobile phone number were randomly selected to receive or not a text-message reminder before the planned appointment. A 10% reduction in the proportion of missed appointments was considered clinically and economically useful and the study was powered accordingly.
RESULTS
The proportion of missed appointments was 16.4% (95% CI 13.1% to 19.8%) in the text-message group (N 462) and 20.0% (95% CI 16.6% to 23.4%) in the control group (N 529), showing no significant effect of the intervention (p=0.346).
CONCLUSIONS
In our primary care youth clinic, text-message reminders are not effective in reducing the proportion of missed appointments. This may in part be due to the fact that most patients are referred by a professional or by their parents and do not initiate appointments themselves.
To assess the effectiveness of text-messages in reducing the proportion of non-attendance in a youth clinic of a University Hospital.
METHODS
Patients who registered for an appointment and provided a mobile phone number were randomly selected to receive or not a text-message reminder before the planned appointment. A 10% reduction in the proportion of missed appointments was considered clinically and economically useful and the study was powered accordingly.
RESULTS
The proportion of missed appointments was 16.4% (95% CI 13.1% to 19.8%) in the text-message group (N 462) and 20.0% (95% CI 16.6% to 23.4%) in the control group (N 529), showing no significant effect of the intervention (p=0.346).
CONCLUSIONS
In our primary care youth clinic, text-message reminders are not effective in reducing the proportion of missed appointments. This may in part be due to the fact that most patients are referred by a professional or by their parents and do not initiate appointments themselves.
- Language
-
- English
- Open access status
- closed
- Identifiers
-
- DOI 10.1136/jech-2013-202510
- PMID 23761412
- Persistent URL
- https://sonar.ch/global/documents/205915
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